Influence of surface-coatings on titanium-alloy resistance to fretting fatigue in cryogenic environment

Fretting damage, also known as small amplitude oscillatory sliding motion, can lead to catastrophic failure in many industrial applications. The understanding of fretting fatigue and its reproduction in laboratory tests have enable us to evaluate the fretting resistance of homogeneous substrate. To reduce the damage caused by fretting fatigue increasing use has been made of coatings or heat treatments which result in non homogeneous solids. From a theoretical point of view, ascertaining the mechanical behaviour of materials so modified is quite complex due to insufficient definition of the contact parameters. This present study seeks to analyse a layered medium undergoing fretting fatigue and the improvement of its fatigue criterion. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.