Professur Maschinenelemente und Produktentwicklung

Fretting fatigue is a frequent cause of damage in bearing seats of large shafts. The phenomenon has its origin in tribological damage, which is characterised by reversing slip movements in the micrometre range. This tribological damage has a strength-reducing effect, whereby the strength reduction is significantly influenced by the parameters slip amplitude and contact pressure. If components are designed purely on the basis of plain fatigue limits, as shown in the short, the safety factor is significantly overestimated and premature failures are the result. On the contrary, if the tribological worst-case is assumed, the safety factor may be underestimated if this is not the case. Current research work at IKAT is therefore focussing on the determination and application of the local fretting fatigue strengths as a function of the parameters slip amplitude and contact pressure.