The Effect of Normal Force on the Coupled Temperature Field of Metal Impregnation Carbon/Stainless Steel under the Friction and Wear with Electric Current

Temperature field model for aluminum-stainless steel composite conductor rail (stainless steel)/collector shoe (metal impregnation carbon) under the coupling of contact resistor-friction thermal was established by FE software ANSYS. The temperature field distribution model of the friction pair was simulated and the maximum coupled temperature changing with different normal force was researched. The results show that the maximum coupled temperatures decrease firstly and then rise with the increasing of normal force under the constant displacement, current and relative sliding speed. There is an optimal normal force making the maximum coupled temperature to be the lowest for the friction pair of the metal impregnation carbon and stainless steel. The normal force can be used as the working normal force in order to reduce the abrasion induced by temperature rising. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Society for Automobile, Power and Energy Engineering