•Fatigue is attributed to multiple

reversals of the contact stress.

FATIGUE •This type of wear occurs due to cyclic

WEAR loading such as in rolling bearings,
gears, friction drives, cam and follower

•Abrasive and Adhesive wear involve a

large contribution from fatigue.
 • Crack Initiation (formation of debris
around 2-3μm)
• Wear Growth (crack propagation)
Three Stages • Post-critical Stage (catastrophic failure)
of Fatigue
Wear Formation Component life of those with high-
cycle fatigue is longer than those with
low-cycle fatigue.
• Dominant strain in high-cycle
fatigue is Elastic Strain, whereas
Plastic Strain is dominant in low-
cycle fatigue.

• HCF Materials: Steel and Titanium

alloys
• LCF Materials: Most ductile and
low-liquefaction point metals
 • Pure materials may exhibit high service
life.
Pure copper (99.96% purity) sliding
against steel gives a wear rate ten times
lower than any other material despite
Wear Rates exhibiting high coefficient of friction.

• Inclusion density increases wear rates

Steel rich in carbide particles shows a
low coefficient of friction and gives one of
the highest wear rates.
Fatigue Wear due to Rolling

During rolling, the local contact stresses are

very high, which are concentrated over a small area
and are repetitive. Such loading occurs in rolling
bearings, gears, friction drives, cams and followers,
etc.
• Application of normal load that induce stresses at
contact points
• Growth of plastic deformation per cycle
• Subsurface crack nucleation
• Expansion of crack due to reversal of stress
• Extension of crack to the surface due to traction
force
• Generation of wear particles
Fatigue Wear due to Shearing

Surface shifts in the direction of

sliding due to deformation caused
by the frictional force. The strain
induced by sliding eventually
breaks down the original grain
structure at the surface to form
dislocation cells.
Dislocation cells are probable
regions for void formation
and crack nucleation.
• Aluminum, copper and iron have a
high tendency to form dislocation
cells.

• A primary crack originates at the

surface at some weak point and
propagates downward along weak
planes. When the developing crack
reaches the surface, a wear particle
is released.
Cracking

Cracking is ultimate failure to

split the component. In other
words cracking results in complete
failure of the component.
Causes for cracking are
excessive load with vibration, loose
fit and excessive impact.
To reduce cracking the
correction of fits and vibration
isolation are executed.