UC Berkeley

The subsurface and surface microstructures during pin-on-disk fretting wear of A216 steel disks under various loading conditions and times are investigated. The corresponding pins are fabricated from 410 stainless steel to simulate in-service conditions found in such engineering components as the Siemens W501FD engine row-2 diaphragm of a Siemens turbine engine, which is known to be prone to failure by fretting wear. Loading conditions range from 2N to 15N and times from 1 hour to a maximum of 69 hours, when steady state is confirmed. Wear track depth is quantitatively determined by optical profilometry, and found to range from 3 to 11 microns dependent upon load. Wear depth increases from 2N to 10N load, but decreases when increased to 15N load, due to heavier transfer of pin material to disk, as can be seen by EDS images of chromium transfer on A216 disk. Microstructures are evaluated by transmission electron microscopy of samples prepared by focused ion beam machining to pinpoint wear tracks and expose them in cross-section. EDS is used, in conjunction with TEM, to elucidate primary wear mechanisms at each stage of fretting wear. Microstructures in the subsurface of wear tracks are found to be heavily dislocated and layered, features that vary with both applied load and time. The microstructure eventually evolves into stable dislocation cells with cell walls aligned parallel to the surface. Penetration depth of the damaged layers increases with applied load, associated with a non-uniform maximum shear stress distribution that varies with depth. Primary oxide appears to evolve from Fe2O3 to Fe3O4, with increasing fretting time, leading to a uniform oxide on the surface of the A216 disk. Oxidation rate may be increased with the evolution of this subsurface dislocation cell structure. It is concluded that fretting wear failure is likely associated with a synergy between oxidative wear and crack initiation and propagation along dislocation cell walls under high strain accumulation at sufficiently high loads or sufficiently long times.