Fretting Wear and Fretting Fatigue—How Are They Related?

Results from published literature and results obtained by the author are examined in detail to determine how fretting wear and fretting fatigue are related. The effects of various experimental parameters, including slip amplitude, number of fretting cycles, frequency of fretting motion, experimental atmosphere, temperature, and the performance of coatings and surface treatments, are surveyed. All of the results examined indicate that fretting wear and fretting fatigue are influenced in a consistent and analogous manner by controlled variations in experimental conditions. That is, conditions that tend to accelerate fretting wear also accelerate fretting fatigue failures. Correlation of the performance of coatings on material under fretting wear and fretting fatigue conditions is rather tenuous, partly because similar contact conditions for fretting fatigue and fretting wear are not available for very many materials.