Fretting fatigue and wear of mechanical joints: Literature study

Most mechanical connections are in one way or another exposed to some form of tear, wear, corrosion and fatigue, and likely to fail over time. If the contacting surfaces in a connection are exposed to tangential loading due to vibrations, small amplitude displacements called fretting can be induced at the surface, and might result in crack nucleation and possible propagation. The review and analysis reported herein are based on review of a wide range of studies reported in the literature during the last 25 years, which look into earlier studies around fretting fatigue in interference fit connections. In addition, a new method on how to obtain an interference fit is being mentioned as a possible way of increasing the joints fretting fatigue life. Previous investigations show clearly positive effects of finding and operating with the correct combinations of interference fit levels, palliative treatments and material choices to increase the fretting fatigue life.