Transient thermo-mechanical interactions during high-speed slip at metal-on-metal interfaces

The paper describes results obtained from plate-impact pressure-shear friction experiments to investigate the phenomena of high-speed slip at metal-on-metal interfaces. Using a CH toolsteel/Ti-6Al-4V tribo-pair the authors have studied the effects of normal pressure, slip-speed, temperature and surface roughness on the evolution of the dynamic slip-resistance. Moreover, a finite-element procedure is developed to simulate the evolution of thermo-mechanical fields and understand their relationship to the observed slip response. Next, the pressure-shear friction experiments are extended to investigate the behavior of CH tool-steel/7075-T6 Al alloy tribo-pair. This material combination allows dynamic friction characteristics to be studied in the near-melt and the fully melt temperature regime of the lower-melting-point metal (7075-T6 Al alloy) comprising the tribo-pair. Besides providing information on the slip-velocity versus friction-stress relationship under extreme interfacial conditions, the experiments provides critical information on the shearing resistance of confined molten metal films under high pressures and extremely high shearing rates. r 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.