Oil-Lubricated Fretting Behaviors of 304 Stainless Steels under Different Fretting Strokes and Normal Loads

The influence of oil lubrication on the fretting wear behaviors of 304 stainless steel flat specimens under different fretting strokes and normal loads has been investigated. The results proved that fretting regimes and fretting wear behaviors of 304 stainless steels were closely related to the fretting conditions. In general, the increase in normal load could increase wear damage during sliding wear. However, according to the results, a significant reduction in wear volume and increase in friction coefficient was observed when the normal load was increased to critical values of 40 and 50 N at a fretting stroke of 50 μm due to the transformation of the fretting regime from a gross slip regime to partial slip regime. Only when the fretting stroke further increased to a higher value of 70 μm at 50 N, fretting could enter the gross slip regime. There was low wear volume and a high friction coefficient when fretting was in the partial slip regime, because oil penetration was poor. The wear mechanisms were fatigue damage and plastic deformation. There was high wear volume and low friction coefficient when fretting was in the gross slip regime, because the oil could penetrate into the contact surfaces. Unlike the wear mechanisms in the partial slip regime, fretting damage of 304 stainless steels was mainly caused by abrasive wear in the gross slip regime.