Tribological Properties for the Interaction of Point Contact Interface

Investigating the wear characteristics of point contact interfaces under the coupled effects of lubrication,wear,and surface topography is of great significance for predicting the service life and failure modes of mechanical components,as well as for improving their performance. Meanwhile, It lays a theoretical foundation for the maintenance, replacement,and reliability assessment of critical components. This paper constructed a mathematical model for predicting wear at point contact interfaces under various lubrication conditions to explore the wear behavior characteristics in the point contact area. The lubrication state of the contact interface was determined based on elastohydrodynamic lubrication(EHL)theory,and the half-width and contact stress of the interface are calculated using Hertzian contact theory. Combining the spatial structure of the ball - disc friction and wear test rig and the Archard wear theory, a wear prediction model for point contacts under different lubrication conditions was established. Experiments were carried out on the ball - disc friction and wear test rig. The wear marks before and after wear were analyzed and compared, and the experimental results were compared with the theoretical results. It was found that the theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results in reflecting the relationships between the friction radius, test force, number of revolutions and the wear amount of the contact interface, the influence of the friction radius and the number of wear times on the wear rate under different lubrication states, and the improvements in contact half-width and wear distribution under lubricated conditions. Under dry friction conditions, an increase in friction radius led to a gradual increase in wear rate. However, under lubricated conditions, an increase in friction radius resulted in a gradual decrease in wear rate. As the number of wear cycles increased, the wear rate tended to stabilize. In lubricated conditions, the contact half-width was narrower compared to dry friction, and the wear distribution was significantly improved. The wear prediction model proposed in this paper could accurately predict the wear depth at the point contact interface and provided a crucial theoretical basis and research approach for the study of wear evolution in point contact transmission interfaces.