Influence of temperature and relative humidity on the friction and wear of unlubricated reciprocating sliding steel/steel couples

Many tribosystems are subjected to different conditions with respect to temperature and humidity. Reciprocating sliding tests with steel/steel couples were performed using a laboratory test rig in air with varying relative humidity and temperature. During each test the friction force, the total linear wear, the electrical contact resistance, and the acoustic emission were recorded. Tests with self-mated couples of bearing steel (100Cr6) and of stainless steel (X10CrNiMoNb18-10/X5CrNi18-9) in a ball-on-disc arrangement revealed small effects of temperature and humidity on friction, but a strong effect of the water vapour content on the wear rate of the system. Attempts were made to correlate changes of wear behaviour with different wear mechanisms.