Hardness Controlled Thermal Failures

Abstract

Heating, wear, and failure are feared effects of friction. The relationship between them is analyzed in terms of slide/roll ratio, relative velocity variation, and relative hardness relations. It is shown that the effect of intersecting hardness curves is the same as that of deceleration, and can cause thermal failure by the same mechanism. The failure is related to the transient departure from steady state according to particular correspondence between the thermal and mechanical variables. Experimental evidence is provided in support of the theoretical argumentation.