Micro-Asperity Contact Area Considering Strain Hardening for Metallic Materials

Abstract

A novel micro-asperity contact area model, which considers influences of strain hardening, is proposed to describe contact area between a deformable sphere and a rigid flat for metallic materials. First, a generalized formula considering work-hardening behaviors (Pilling-up or Sinking-in) between contact area and interference is proposed for fully plastic regime based on the definition of plastic contact area index. Then a relationship to calculate the critical interference at the inception of fully plastic deformation is derived. In order to incorporate the transition from elastic regime to fully plastic regime, a quadratic rational form formula is proposed based on volume conservation model for mixed elastoplastic regime. Therewith a modification is conducted to ensure continuity of contact area model at critical interference for fully plastic regime. Ultimately several representative models and experiment results are exhibited to analyze the availability of the present model. It is noted considering work-hardening fully plastic contact area index is not a constant value of two for any metallic materials, which is a function of strain hardening exponent. Demonstration testifies that smoothness constraint is not necessary at the critical interferences. The prediction data of present model are consistent with experiment results contrasting that of other models. Current generalized contact area model considering influence of work-hardening results in a better understanding of the contact area between a deformable sphere and a rigid flat and indicates a probability to analyze contact characteristics of two mating rough surfaces accurately.