Theoretical and Experimental Contact Stiffness Characterisation of Nominally Flat Surfaces

In this study the tangential contact stiffness between two elastic bodies having nominally flat surfaces with different material combinations is investigated. The tangential contact stiffness between these two elastic bodies is first calculated based on the Greenwood-Williamson-McCool contact theory. Then, the tangential contact stiffness is determined by experimental investigation on a tribometer under the effect of different values of normal load and tangential displacement amplitude. The tangential contact stiffnesses obtained from the experimental data show a good agreement with the theoretical results, where the trends are similar and they are in the same order of magnitude.