//article 1122.334// Fretting refers to wear and sometimes corrosion damage at t he asperities of contact surfaces.

This damage is induced under load and in the presence of repeated relative surface motion, as induced for example by vibratio n. The ASM Handbook on //article 1122.334// Fatigue and Fracture defines fretting as: "A special wear process that occurs at the contact area between two materials under load and subject to minute relativ e motion by vibration or some other force." //article 1122.334// The amplitude of the relative sliding motion is often in the order from micromet ers to millimeters, but can be as low as 3 to 4 nanometers.[1] //article 1122.334// The contact movement causes mechanical wear and material transfer at the surface , often followed by oxidation of both the metallic debris and the freshly expose d metallic surfaces. Because the oxidized debris is usually much harder than the surfaces from which it came, it often acts as an abrasive agent that increases the rate of both fretting and a mechanical wear called false brinelling. //article 1122.334// Contents [hide] 1 Steel 2 Products affected 3 Fretting fatigue 4 Mitigation 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Steel[edit] Fretting damage in steel can be identified by the presence of a pitted surface a nd fine 'red' iron oxide dust reminiscent of cocoa powder. Strictly this debris is not 'rust' as its production requires no water. The particles are much harder than the steel surfaces in contact, so abrasive wear is inevitable; however, pa rticulates are not required to initiate fret. Products affected[edit] Fretting examples include wear of drive splines on driveshafts, wheels at the lu g bolt interface, and cylinder head gaskets subject to differentials in thermal expansion coefficients. There is a current focus on fretting research in the aerospace industry. The dov etail blade-root connection and the spline coupling of gas turbine aero engines experience fretting. Fretting fatigue[edit] Fretting decreases fatigue strength of materials operating under cycling stress. This can result in fretting fatigue, whereby fatigue cracks can initiate in the fretting zone. Afterwards, the crack propagates into the material. Lap joints, common on airframe surfaces, are a prime location for fretting corrosion. This i s also known as frettage or fretting corrosion.[2] Mitigation[edit] The fundamental way to prevent fretting is to design for no relative motion of t he surfaces at the contact. Surface finish plays an important role as fretting n ormally occurs by the contact of the asperities of the mating surfaces. Lubrican ts are often employed to mitigate fretting because they reduce friction and inhi bit oxidation.

Soft materials often exhibit higher susceptibility to fretting than hard materia ls of a similar type. The hardness ratio of the two sliding materials also has a n effect on fretting wear.[3] However, softer materials such as polymers can sho w the opposite effect when they capture hard debris which becomes embedded in th eir bearing surfaces. They then act as a very effective abrasive agent, wearing down the harder metal with which they are in contact.