LUBRICATION-RELATED INFLUENCES ON THE FRETTING WEAR OF DRAWN WIRE

Summary 

The fretting wear scars that form at internal contacts within wire ropes can have a significant influence on fatigue cracking of rope wires. In turn, lubricant and lubricationrelated factors have a significant influence on the nature and progression of this fretting wear.

Using a laboratory-scale fretting wear test, the influence of various lubrication-related parameters on the fretting wear of drawn wire was investigated, particularly the influence of base oil viscosity. Because there are many interrelated lubricant properties and influences, multivariate statistical analysis was used to identify the most significant lubrication-related factors on fretting wear. The viscosity of the grease base fluid and the formation of a stable interface layer in the Full Slip fretting regime during the runin phase is the most influential factors in long term fretting wear.

Author(s): C.J. Dyson, R.J. Chittenden, M. Priest, M. Fox, W.A. Hopkins and  M.A. Cassidy