Analytical Method for the Inverse Determination of Interfacial Wear Temperatures

Abstract

Frictionally generated interfacial temperatures during a pin-on-ring wear test were inversely determined using a single thermocouple placed near the wear surface of the pin. Once captured by the thermocouple, the transient temperature history was used with a finite-element-based solution for a unit response and a least-squares fitting of the data to a generalized equation to determine the interfacial temperatures (boundary condition). In order to verify the results, the predicted boundary condition was then applied to the same finite-element model and solved directly with the numerical predictions for the thermocouple location showing excellent agreement with the experimental data. To avoid excessive wear and therefore maintain linearity of the problem, a wear resistant hypereutectic aluminum-silicon alloy (B390) was used as the pin on a hardened steel disk. Based on specific wear-test conditions, it was found that the interfacial temperatures asymptotically approached a maximum of 140°C in approximately 15 s with 80-90% of the temperature achieved in approximately 5 s.

KEY WORD:

• Wear Interface
• Inverse
• Interface Temperature
• Thermocouple

Acknowledgments

Review led by Dong Zhu