Modification methodology of fretting wear in involute spline

This paper develops a method on predicting the fretting wear of spline couplings, which includes coefficient measurement, mechanism analysis, method development and model prediction. The friction and wear coefficients of spline material were measured by a programmable commercially-made friction tester. The wear mechanism of spline couplings was discussed. The contact stress and slide distance of spline couplings was investigated via finite element method. The fretting wear was calculated using modified Archard's equations which integrated the adhesive wear, abrasive wear and oxidation wear. Results showed that the friction coefficient decreased whereas the wear coefficient increased with the increasing normal load from 160 to 900 N. The contact stress showed an increase with the increasing torque, decreased firstly before an increase when the contact region moved from the tooth top to root. Following an increase, the slide distance started decrease along the axial direction of spline tooth. The variation of fretting wear was similar to the contact stress. Relatively low wear was obtained at the tooth middle. These confirmed that the contact stress was vital for the fretting wear. The calculated fretting wear agreed well with the actual value, indicating that the modified model had high accuracy on predicting the fretting wear. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.