Effect of maximum applied cyclic stress on fretting fatigue stress distribution of flat-on-flat modified 9Cr-1Mo steel contact: Finite element analysis

Abstract

Fretting fatigue experiments were conducted on a modified 9Cr-1Mo (P91) steel under flat-on-flat contact with maximum applied cyclic stress (σmax) levels of 450 MPa, 500 MPa and 550 MPa at a stress ratio of 0.3 and a contact pressure of 100 MPa. A decrease in the cyclic life was observed with an increase in σmax. Chaboche model with isotropic and kinematic hardening was employed in finite element analysis to evaluate the stress distribution near the contact pad and along the contact surface under fretting fatigue conditions. In addition, the contact-related parameters such as contact pressure, contact shear stress and relative tangential motion were also assessed. The relative tangential motion was found to increase with increasing σmax. Besides, the peak values of normal stress (parallel to the applied loading direction) and maximum principal stress were observed around the leading and trailing edges of the contact pad at the σmax. The amplitude of relative tangential motion and slip zone increases with σmax. The orientations of the principal plane and shear plane to the applied cyclic loading direction are − 89.5◦ and − 134.5◦, irrespective of the σmax. The fracture surface of the failed specimen revealed that the direction of the crack was nearly perpendicular to the applied stress. Smith-Watson-Topper parameter was used for estimating the crack initiation life with σmax. It has been noticed that the fraction and dominance of crack initiation or propagation phase depend on the imposed cyclic condition for the steel.