On Normal and Oblique

Inelastic Contact

Joachim Larsson

Doctoral Thesis no. 48, 2001

Department of Solid Mechanics

Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
TRITA HFL-0297
ISSN 1104-6813
ISRN KTH/HFL/R--01/16--SE

Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan

i Stockholm framlägges till offentlig granskning för avläggande av teknisk
doktorsexamen fredagen den 14 december 2001 kl 10.15 i sal D3,
Lindstedtsvägen 5, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm.
 Preface
The research presented in this thesis was carried out between November 1996 and
November 2001 at the Department of Solids Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm, Sweden.

I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Bertil Storåkers for excellent guid-
ance, encouragement and for showing genuine and contagious enthusiasm during the
course of my work. I would also like to thank Shiro Biwa, Per-Lennart Larsson,
Susanna Carlsson and Bo Häggblad for valuable contributions and support.

This investigation was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Engineer-
ing Sciences (TFR) which is gratefully acknowledged.

Finally, I would like to thank all of my colleagues at the department for creating a
lively and stimulating atmosphere.

Stockholm in November 2001

Joachim Larsson
 Dissertation
This dissertation contains an introduction and the following appended papers:

Paper A

B. Storåkers and J. Larsson (2000), On inelastic impact and dynamic hardness,

Archives of Mechanics, vol. 52, no. 4-5, pp. 779-798.

Paper B

J. Larsson, S. Biwa and B. Storåkers (1999), Inelastic flattening of rough surfaces,

Mechanics of Materials, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 29-41.

Paper C

J. Larsson and B. Storåkers (2000), Oblique indentation of creeping solids, European

Journal of Mechanics A/Solids, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 565-584.

Paper D

J. Larsson and B. Storåkers (2001), On oblique contact of creeping solids, Department

of Solid Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Report 296/15,
submitted for publication.
 Abstract

In this thesis normal and oblique inelastic contact is analysed in four papers.

Analysis of normal contact is of major concern in hardness testing and in

numerous practical applications. In traditional hardness testing, plastic material
properties are determined by pressing an indenter into a solid material of current
interest. In Paper A spherical impact has been analysed and dynamic hardness and its
relation to constitutive parameters, corresponding to strain-hardening and strain-rate
sensitivity, studied in detail. A consistent three-dimensional contact theory has been
laid down and based on detailed finite element computations, universal relations
between hardness, impression velocity and depth together with resulting contact
regions have been determined. Paper B concentrates on normal flattening of rough
surfaces. A micro-mechanical analysis is carried out for general viscoplastic contact
between single asperities. Probabilistic models are used to determine the macro-
behaviour for relations between resulting force, approach and true contact area
between surfaces. Features such as volume conservation, strain-hardening effects and
topographic scale dependence are discussed.

Many practical applications in contact mechanics comprise oblique contact. In

these applications, such as compaction of powder aggregates, relations between normal
and shear forces, contact region and impression depth are of major interest. In Papers C
and D proportional oblique contact has been analysed for power-law creeping solids in
two and three dimensions, respectively, with perfect plasticity as an asymptotic case. A
solution strategy based on a self-similar transformation resulting in a reduced problem,
corresponding to flat die indentation of a nonlinear elastic solid, was developed. A
three-dimensional finite element procedure was worked out to explicitly solve the
problem. An invariant relation between contact area and indentation depth was found
to depend only on four parameters, i.e. the creep exponent, the indenter profile, the
level of obliquity and the coefficient of friction, the influence of the latter two shown to
be weak. Detailed results were given for the location and shape of contact regions as
well as micro-slip contours and resulting deformation fields. Although surface
displacements proved to be severely asymmetric at increasing creep exponent and
angle of impression, γ ≤ π ⁄ 3 , in the spherical case reduced normal and tangential
forces proved to be remarkably independent in contrast to the plane strain case.

Keywords: Normal contact, oblique contact, indentation, inelastic solids, visco-

plasticity, power-law creep, self-similarity, finite elements, friction, flattening,
roughness, impact, dynamic hardness
 Contents

Introduction 1

A. Normal contact

(i) Hertz theory of elastic contact 1

(ii) Elastic-plastic contact 3

(iii) Fully plastic contact 4

(iv) Inelastic flow theory and self-similarity 4

(v) Inelastic impact and dynamic hardness 6

(vi) Inelastic flattening of rough surfaces 7

B. Oblique contact

(i) Elastic contact 8

(ii) Inelastic contact 9

(iii) Creeping contact 10

(iv) Future work in the field of oblique contact 12

Summary of appended papers 12

References 14

Appended papers

Paper A: On inelastic impact and dynamic hardness

Paper B: Inelastic flattening of rough surfaces

Paper C: Oblique indentation of creeping solids

Paper D: On oblique contact of creeping solids

 Introduction
This thesis involves analysis of three problems of inelastic contact; impact and
dynamic hardness, flattening of rough surfaces and oblique indentation of creeping
solids. The problems are both of a fundamental and technological interest as many
applications, some of them sketched in Figure 1, may be found related to analyses of
friction and wear, joints and seals, compaction of powder aggregates and interaction
between off shore structures and floating ice floes. The theory to be outlined is partly
based on the classical Hertz (1882) theory of two spherical bodies in normal contact.
Some aspects of this theory will first be briefly recapitulated as in general an elastic
counterpart may be found in the inelastic problems to be dealt with.

Indentation/Impact Rough surface contact

Ice-offshore structure interaction Powder compaction

Figure 1: Representative applications

A. Normal contact

(i) Hertz theory of elastic contact

Relating to Figure 2, in Hertz theory the following assumptions are made, (a) the
surfaces are continuous and non-conforming and may be represented by a second order
surface, (b) strains are small and linear kinematics is adopted, (c) each solid may be
considered as a homogeneous, isotropic, linear elastic half-space, (d) the surfaces are

1
frictionless. As long as the two bodies are in normal contact and the contact area is very
small in relation to significant dimensions of the bodies, the assumptions (a) to (d) are
well satisfied. In the problems to be dealt with in this thesis only (a) and (b) are fulfilled
as inelastic contact due to plasticity and creep is a major ingredient as is also friction
due to oblique contact.

R1
P
1

2 ∅2a

P R2

Figure 2: Two spherical bodies in normal contact

A fundamental result based on Hertz theory relates to the indentation depth, cf. e.g.
Johnson (1985),

1⁄3
a
2  9P 2 
h = ------- =  ----------------------2- , (1)
R*  16R*E* 
2 2
with notation according to Figure 2 where 1 ⁄ E * = ( 1 – ν 1 ) ⁄ E 1 + ( 1 – ν 2 ) ⁄ E 2 and
1 ⁄ R* = 1 ⁄ R 1 + 1 ⁄ R 2 .

The contact pressure distribution is further given by

2 1⁄2
p = p0 ( 1 – ( r ⁄ a ) ) , (2)
2
where p 0 = 3P ⁄ ( 2πa ) .

As a consequence, analysis of two dissimilar elastic bodies can be reduced to

treatment of a rigid sphere indenting an elastic half-space with effective moduli and
radii of curvature appropriately introduced.

An important feature of the Hertz solution is the inherent self-similarity present

since the solution for one set of material parameters does not depend explicitly on the
2
depth of indentation, h, and the radius of contact, a, but only on the invariant a ⁄ ( hR ) .
In other words, provided one solution is known the method of obtaining another
solution is just a matter of scaling of the initial solution.

2
 Self-similarity was taken further by a.o. Mossakovski (1963), Spence (1968) and
Hill and Storåkers (1990) who reduced the problem of two spherical elastic bodies in
contact to one of a rigid flat punch indenting an elastic half-space. The reduced contact
problem then becomes complete having a stationary boundary with an auxiliary
intermediate problem to solve. The solution to the original problem may then be
obtained by simple cumulative superposition.

(ii) Elastic-plastic contact

In the vicinity of a non-conforming contact high local stresses exist and for many
contacts the material will show plastic behaviour. In general the first point to yield is
located below the surface and fully contained by elastic material. In an elastic analysis
of a Brinell hardness test set up (frictionless, rigid sphere indentation), the maximum
shear stress is located beneath the indenter at a depth of 0.48a , cf. Figure 3, assuming
a Poisson ratio of 0.3.

∅ 2R

∅ 2a

Figure 3: Elastic-plastic contact

Johnson (1970) introduced a representative parameter, Λ = E tan β ⁄ σ Y , where β

is the local inclination angle of the indenter profile contour and σ Y the yield stress in
simple compression, in order to categorize the contact. For spherical contact
tan β ≈ a ⁄ R . From various experimental investigations Johnson (1985) found that the
elastic-plastic regime was entered at roughly Λ ≈ 3 . For wedge, cone and pyramidal
indentation the Λ -parameter is independent of the impression depth, while for
cylindrical and spherical indentation the contact can change from elastic to elastic-
plastic and possibly to fully plastic during indentation. In the former group of indenters
an elastic-plastic analysis may be carried out by use of self-similarity since the size of
the plastic zone may be scaled with the contact radius. Introduction of elastic-plastic
behaviour in the latter group, Figure 3, will lead to an additional characteristic length in
the problem and a solution based on a stationary boundary will ordinarily not apply.

3
(iii) Fully plastic contact

When the plastic zone expands out to the free surface, where the material can
extend more freely, elastic effects may be neglected locally and the contact is said to be
fully plastic, Figure 4.

Figure 4: Fully plastic contact

Based on experimental findings, Johnson (1985) proposed that for Λ > 30 full
plasticity will be applicable in the spherical case. This was later confirmed by Biwa and
Storåkers (1995) from computations based on elastic-plastic theory. Still higher values
of Λ were recently suggested by Mesarovic and Fleck (1999).

At the other limit of the similarity region, at large Λ -values, the assumption of
linear kinematics is no longer appropriate. A finite deformation description has to be
adopted, where especially large rotations at the contact contour have to be taken into
account. In a general case self-similarity start to deteriorate when a ⁄ R is greater than
0.2, say.

It was shown for the fully plastic case, by Hill, Storåkers and Zdunek (1989), that
at power law hardening materials, when elastic effects are insignificant, self-similarity
in the spirit of Hertz will still prevail. The analysis laid down by Hill et. al. (1989) was
based on plastic total deformation theory and it was shown that the contact problem
could be solved by aid of a stationary boundary though with the perimeter still to be
determined. This proved to be convenient for implementing a finite element procedure
and detailed solutions of high accuracy were subsequently accomplished. Some since
long established empirical formulae for Brinell indentation were given a rigorous
theoretical background.

(iv) Inelastic flow theory and self-similarity

The work by Hill et. al. (1989) was based on deformation theory of plasticity and
2
spherical contact. In essence the invariant c 2 = a ⁄ ( 2hR ) had to be determined by a
trial and error procedure. Further progress was made by Storåkers and Larsson (1994)
who showed that the incremental procedure worked out earlier by Spence (1968) for
linear elasticity, could be duly modified to apply to power law creeping solids as well.
As the contact problem now becomes complete, for one thing c 2 could be determined

4
directly by cumulative superposition for any die shape, cf. Figure 5. Subsequently this
approach was followed by indentation analyses of strain-hardening materials based on
plastic flow theory by Biwa and Storåkers (1995) and for viscoplastic materials by
Storåkers, Biwa and Larsson (1997), where a constitutive equation was adopted as

1⁄n 1⁄m
σ e = σ 0 ε̇ e ε e . (3)

This will result in a non-local material law in the reduced auxiliary problem. However,
this can be dealt with in an appropriate way in a FE-analysis, as described by Biwa and
Storåkers (1995). The self-similar approach, briefly described above, is valid and
applicable also for materials represented by viscoplastic flow theory. The viscoplastic
constitutive equation, eq. (3), is very versatile and may describe primary creep or
strain-rate sensitive plasticity for finite m- and n-values. Norton’s creep law is deduced
for the case of m → ∞ and strain-hardening plastic flow theory for n → ∞ . Further,
m, n → ∞ corresponds to perfect plasticity.

2a 2
x1 x̃ 1
h 1

x2 x̃ 2

Figure 5: Schematics of the original contact problem and the reduced problem, respectively.
p p–1 p
The ratio c p = a ⁄ ( h ( 2R ) ) for a given die shape p, f ( r ) ∼ r , was shown to
be a function only of the inelastic material exponents due to the self-similar nature of
the problem. For a spherical shape, p = 2 , c 2 was determined based on high accuracy
finite element solutions for a general power law constitutive equation by Storåkers et.
al. (1997) with strain-hardening exponents m and creep exponents n. As one result it
was found that the relation

– 0.97 ( 1 ⁄ m + 1 ⁄ n )
c 2 = 1.43e (4)

would serve as a very close approximation. For perfect plasticity ( m, n → ∞ )

c 2 = 1.43 . It may be further shown that c 2 < 1 corresponds to sinking-in and c 2 > 1
to piling-up, respectively at the contact boundary, cf. Figure 6.

5
 Sinking-in Piling-up

Figure 6: Sinking-in versus Piling-up (schematic)

The theory outlined so far is based on indentation of a rigid die onto an inelastic
half-space. The procedure could be readily generalized to involve two dissimilar solids
once the material exponents and surface shapes are individually identical, Storåkers
(1997). More general applications may then be dealt with as for instance structural
assemblies, powder compaction of composites and flattening of rough surfaces.
Implementation of a local normal contact model into general constitutive equations for
powder aggregates has recently been carried out by Storåkers, Fleck and McMeeking
(1999).

(v) Inelastic impact and dynamic hardness

Hardness testing is closely related to contact theory. Briefly a (rigid) indenter is

pressed into a solid material, of which the mechanical properties are to be determined.
The plastic imprint after unloading is measured as a function of applied force and the
hardness is defined as the force divided by the projected contact area. The hardness
value itself is naturally of interest, but still more important is the possibility to
determine constitutive parameters from hardness testing. The procedure to determine
such relations is not straightforward, due to the inhomogenous strain field under the
indenter, but recently the area has been elucidated to a great extent, much so due to the
possibility to perform extensive numerical analyses. Also elastic constitutive
parameters may nowadays be determined from hardness testing, by measuring both the
force and the indentation depth at initial unloading.

The most frequently used indenters are the Brinell (spherical) and the sharp
counterparts, Vickers (pyramidal), Berkovich (triangular), Knoop (rhomboidal) and
conical. The Brinell test is relatively good-natured to analyse due to axisymmetry and
the possibility to use linear kinematics. Analysing sharp indentations tests are in
general more cumbersome, but such tests are used for instance in nanoindentation and
for hard materials such as ceramics.

Also strain-rate sensitivity parameters may be determined by impact testing. In

impact testing a hard body is forced to strike a deformable solid by fall of gravity, a
pendulum machine or a gas gun. The viscoplastic constitutive equation, eq. (3), may be

6
used as a first approximation to describe the combination of strain-hardening and
strain-rate sensitivity at considerably different strain rates than at creep deformation. At
4 –1
impact the strain rate may be of the order 10 s in comparison to creep where the
–7 –1
strain rate may be typically 10 s . By use of the results from the analysis of
viscoplastic contact, Storåkers et. al. (1997), colinear impact is analysed in Paper A.
An expression for the true dynamic hardness is presented and how the hardness is
related to the constitutive equation, where a general relation between stress, strain and
strain rate is assigned. It was found that the strain-hardening exponent and the rate
sensitivity exponent may simply be added to determine an approximate combined
effect. Further, plastic zone sizes and lip formation were explained in detail.

Another area of interest analysing impact is the coefficient of restitution, defined as

v
e = ----e- , (5)
v0

where v e is the velocity when the particles in contact separate and v 0 the initial
velocity. In Paper A this coefficient was estimated to first order, in the spirit of Johnson
(1985). It was shown that the coefficient of restitution is not a true material parameter,
but depends also on the mass and geometry of the particles and the initial velocity.

(vi) Inelastic flattening of rough surfaces

The topic of flattening of rough surfaces is presently a lively discipline especially

due to several new areas of application such as data storage devices and more articles
are published in a never-ceasing stream. Summaries and comparison of rough surface
models may be found e.g. in Oden and Martins (1985) and McCool (1986) and a
review of experimental work was made by Woo and Thomas (1980). Inelastic
flattening of rough surfaces has been treated by Larsson, Biwa and Storåkers and is
included in this thesis as Paper B. The viscoplastic contact analysis described above
was employed for local asperity contact and the macro behaviour, such as relations
between force, approach and true contact area, was determined, cf. Figure 7.

Figure 7: Rough surfaces in contact

7
 A classical though still frequently employed rough surface model based on
probabilistic theory is due to Greenwood and Williamson (1966). In their spirit surface
irregularities, asperities, are taken to be spherical at their summits and their radii of
curvature constant in an average sense, while various statistical distributions of asperity
summit heights are used. The validity of the respective assumptions made in the model
has been paid extensive attention by many writers and some objections have been
raised regarding volume conservation at plastic deformation, neglect of strain-
hardening and scale dependence of roughness parameters. These questions are brought
up and discussed in connection with the analysis of Paper B. Further, a prototype
model based on fractal surface geometry is outlined using scale-independent
parameters, as it is well known that the roughness parameters in existing probabilistic
models are scale dependent.

The present analysis is based on a well known model by Majumdar and Bhushan
(1991) employing a Weierstrass profile. Its virtues and shortcomings, where an
anomaly is pointed out, are debated. A recent attractive approach by Ciavarella and
Demelio (2001) results in flattening of rough surfaces in the spirit of Archard (1957).
This analysis is, however based on purely elastic materials and breaks down in case of
plasticity.

B. Oblique contact

In many applications conditions of oblique contact may arise, as for instance in

flattening of rough surfaces, compaction of powder particles and contacts in all sorts of
machine elements. Full axisymmetry of the normal case is then lost and in a general
situation the region of contact becomes non-circular. This leads to complications, but
specific problems may be analysed by use of self-similarity principles similar to the
one described above for normal contact. This will be shown in Papers C and D.

(i) Elastic contact

Oblique linear elastic contact analyses were carried out more than half a century
ago by Cattaneo (1938) and Mindlin (1949). They analysed the case where a tangential
force was superimposed upon normal contact between two deformable bodies. Taking
the bodies to be identical, both in size and material properties, it was found that an
initially circular contact area remained circular after being tangentially loaded. In the
same spirit, but perhaps in a more convenient form, Walton (1978) analysed
proportional loading of identical spheres, cf. Figure 8, and found that the normal and
tangential directions are reciprocally independent. The only case where this is true also

8
for dissimilar bodies in contact is for linear, incompressible materials, since a
tangential load then results in no vertical displacements and vice versa.

Figure 8: Oblique contact between identical elastic spheres, Walton (1978).

When analysing non-proportional loading, slip has to be taken into account, even
for identical spheres, and the solution becomes path-dependent. Elata and Berryman
(1996) illustrate this phenomenon nicely but it goes without further saying that non-
proportionality complicates the solution procedure significantly.

(ii) Inelastic contact

Although linear elastic analyses for oblique contact were first carried out more
than half a century ago, save for slip line theory solutions, cf. e.g. Green (1954),
analyses for inelastic materials appear to be very scarce. The obvious reason is that the
consideration of nonlinear material behaviour adds to all the other difficulties due to
the nonlinear nature of contact problems. Specific analyses based on brute force
numerical solutions may today be attainable, with proper attention paid to a moving
contact boundary. It must be kept in mind though that there is a definite challenge to
produce results of some generality.

There exist analytical solutions only for a very limited class of contact problems.
For a general contact problem without symmetry (e.g. oblique contact), with a moving
contact boundary, inelastic material behaviour and finite friction, a numerical solution
method is imperative and preferably then by FEM, the Finite Element Method. There
are no fundamental difficulties to attain a numerical solution taking all the issues above
into account, but it will become extraordinarily computationally demanding. The lack
of symmetry requires modelling in three dimensions. A moving boundary requires an
adaptive method to be used or an excessive amount of degrees of freedom to achieve
high accuracy in the solution. An inelastic constitutive law and finite friction in the
contact zone necessitates an incremental solution procedure to be employed. Since

9
every single one of these effects is very computationally requiring, the general contact
problem delineated is indeed time consuming to solve.

By identifying of geometric self-similarity in the contact problem the total effect of

the non-linearities can be reduced. Very briefly, the original contact problem may be
transformed to an auxiliary problem, eliminating the moving boundary and reducing
the material law as described above. Once the reduced auxiliary problem is solved,
these solutions may be “superposed” to satisfy the boundary conditions of the original
contact problem and subsequently all field variables may be found by cumulative
superposition. Although the auxiliary problem is more “attractive” than the original
problem it is in general not numerically trivial. The fact that a full three-dimensional
model has to be deployed remains and further, singularities at the contact boundary
arise. The singularities are of a type not dealt with in an optimal way by use of
polynomial based shape functions in traditional FE-codes. Since the boundary is
stationary in the reduced problem the singularities can be dealt with in an acceptable
way by use of a very high mesh density. A clear advantage, when reducing the original
problem to an auxiliary problem by use of self-similarity principles, is the high
generality of the results achieved.

(iii) Creeping contact

The analyses presented in Papers C and D should be seen as a first fundamental

step to the solution of more general oblique inelastic contact problems. The analysis
laid down is based on a strategy similar to the case of normal contact. The initial
problem can be reduced to that of a flat rigid punch obliquely indenting a nonlinear
elastic half-space, as depicted in Figure 9 for the plane problem.

2a 2
x1 x̃ 1
h 1

x2 x̃ 2

Figure 9: Original oblique contact problem and the reduced problem, respectively.

The kinematical Hertz assumptions are preserved but the presence of friction
requires careful consideration. The intermediate flat die problem is solved numerically
and cumulative superposition adopted to obtain a solution to the original contact
problem.

1. Plane strain analysis

In Paper C oblique indentation is analysed under conditions of plane strain,

proportional loading and for power law creeping solids. The invariant relation between

10
indentation depth and contact area was determined and it was shown to depend on the
creep exponent, the profile of the indenter, the angle of obliquity and the coefficient of
friction. It was found that the influence of the angle and the coefficient of friction on
this invariant relation were remarkably weak. Attention was also paid to deformation
modes, contact forces, slip and the shift of the contact area.

2. Three-dimensional analysis

In Paper D the analysis was extended to apply to three dimensions. The self-
similarity concept was used once more, but with some modification both in formulation
of the problem and in the numerical analyses. The most important difference in
comparison to the plane case is that the shape, not only the shift, of the contact region
is a priori unknown and has to be determined by an iteration procedure. As mentioned
above the contact region remains perfectly circular for oblique, spherical indentation
only for linear incompressible solids. This holds true also for the present case when the
creep exponent equals unity (Newtonian fluid), but for other exponents the region was
found to be oval rather than circular. However, the deviation from a circle was found to
be modest and in the most extreme case analysed (perfect plasticity, full adhesion and
an obliquity of π ⁄ 3 ) the deviation from a circle was six percent, as depicted in Figure
10, this being the case despite severely asymmetric surface deformations. Although the
shift and and shape of the contact region change with increasing obliquity, the invariant
relation between impression depth and contact area remains noticably independent of
obliquity for all creep exponents.

γ = π⁄3
1

0.8 1
0.6 5
0.4 100
0.2

x̃ 2 0

−0.2

−0.4

−0.6

−0.8

−1
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1
x̃ 1

Figure 10: Projected contact area at severe obliquity depicted for different creep exponents.

At proportional indentation and finite friction, the relative stick and slip regions
were found to be invariant at progressing contact at a given indenter profile. However,
they were neither circular nor symmetrically located as at normal contact. Coulomb’s
law sets a limit for macro sliding to occur. When micro-slip occurs, no significant
effect on the resulting contact forces or the area relations were found though, as in the
two-dimensional case. The solution strategy and the general trends in the results

11
mentioned above are similiar comparing the two- and three-dimensional cases, but
differences were also found. The relation between contact area and indentation depth
differs and the contact forces normalized with respect to the contact area show
dissimilar behaviour, comparing cylindrical and spherical indentation. At spherical
indentation the normalized normal and tangential contact forces are virtually
uncoupled.

(iv) Future work in the field of oblique inelastic contact

Future work in the field of oblique contact may concentrate on time-independent

plastic material behaviour, non-proportional loading and contact between dissimilar
solids. Further, it remains to implement the local analyses into the many applications
described above.

The problem analysed was based on proportional indentation. As the constitutive

equation adopted is history independent and the solution procedure was based on
intermediate incremental fields, a solution for non-proportional, though monotonous,
loading seems fairly straightforward to obtain at least for adhesive contact. As the
framework laid down originates from a solution for creep at normal contact by
Storåkers and Larsson (1994) and later supplemented to include strain-hardening
plastic flow, Biwa and Storåkers (1995), and viscoplasticity, Storåkers, Biwa and
Larsson (1997), an extension also in this direction of the present oblique analysis
constitutes a true challenge.

Summary of the appended papers

Paper A. When rough surfaces are impressed, the electrical, thermal and mechanical
contact properties will originally be imperfect as compared to smooth surfaces. Here
the initial mechanical contact at inelastic materials is analysed for residual plastic
strain-hardening and creep deformation when two rough surfaces are approached. First
a self-consistent micro-mechanical analysis is carried out for general viscoplastic
impression of a single asperity based on self-similarity and stationary contact.
Probabilistic models of surface topography are then employed to determine the
macroscopic flattening behaviour for a distribution of asperities. Relations between
contact area, impression depth and loading are determined with high accuracy and their
validity compared with earlier significant experimental findings. In particular it is
shown that the contact pressure-area connection is nonlinear. Estimates are given for
the degree of roughness required for flattening to be essentially plastic. A prototype
model based on fractal surface geometry is outlined using scale-independent
parameters and its virtues and shortcomings discussed.

Paper B. Colinear impact and dynamic hardness is analysed at spherical contact and
moderate strains. A consistent three-dimensional contact theory based on viscoplastic

12
material behaviour is laid down involving elements of self-similarity, stationary
boundary conditions and cumulative superposition. Universal relations between impact
velocity and the resulting contact region, impression depth and duration of impact are
derived. Deformed surface shapes are shown to be self-similar for power law material
behaviour and their relation to piling-up and sinking-in is explained in detail. The
coefficient of restitution at rebound is estimated to first order. The concept of dynamic
hardness is not unequivocally defined in general and various definitions in literature are
discussed in relation to true material rate sensitivity. Theoretical and numerical
predictions of the present model are compared with pertinent experimental findings for
different metals. Particular features such as lip formation, plastic zone size and
maximum penetration depth are elucidated.

Paper C. Oblique indentation of power law creeping solids at plane strain conditions is
examined with rigid- perfectly plastic material behaviour emerging as an asymptotic
case. Indenter profiles are dealt with in general circumstances and represented by
homogeneous functions. The core of the method developed draws on self-similarity
and is based on an intermediate flat die solution. By this approach the problem of a
moving contact boundary may be suppressed and the ensuing procedure becomes
independent of loading, geometry, history and time. A computational method, based on
the reduced procedure, is developed to obtain high accuracy solutions based on finite
elements and applicable to nonlinear elasticity. The originally stated problem is then
solved subsequently by simple cumulative superposition and results given as a function
of impression depth. The relation between contact depth and area is found to be
invariant and only dependent on the power law exponent, the amount of friction, the
profile and the angle of inclination of the indenter. Detailed results are given for local
states of stress and deformation for flat and cylindrical dies at variation of the
remaining three stated parameters. The presence of local stick and slip is given due
attention and global relations between loading and indentation depth and contact area
discussed for practical applications. The fundamental framework laid down may be
applied to structural assemblies, joints and seals and diverse applications as flattening
of rough surfaces, compaction of powder aggregates and ice-offshore structure
interaction.

Paper D. Oblique indentation of power-law creeping solids by a rigid die is analysed in

three dimensions with perfectly plastic behaviour emerging as an asymptotic case.
Indenter profiles are prescribed to be axisymmetric for simplicity but not by necessity.
Invariance and generality is aimed at as the problem is governed by only four essential
parameters i.e. the die profile, p, the indentation angle, γ , the power-law exponent, n,
and the coefficient of friction, µ . The solution strategy is based on a self-similar
transformation resulting in a reduced problem corresponding to flat die indentation of
complete contact. The reduced auxiliary problem, being independent of loading,
history and time, was solved by a three-dimensional finite element analysis
characterized by high accuracy. Subsequently cumulative superposition was used to
resolve the original problem and global and invariant relations between force, depth
and contact area were determined. Detailed results are given for the location and shape

13
of the contact region and stick/slip contours as well as for local states of surface
stresses and deformation at flat and spherical indenters. Despite the asymmetry
prevailing, it was found that in the spherical case, contact contours were rather close to
circular, although shifted, with normal and tangential forces only weakly coupled.
Finite friction as compared to full adhesion proved to have only a minor effect on
global relations. The framework laid down may be applied to contact of structural
assemblies subjected especially to elevated temperatures and also to various issues
such as flattening of rough surfaces, plastic impact and hot compaction of powder
aggregates.

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