Study on tribo-chemical and fatigue behavior of 316L austenitic stainless steel in torsional fretting fatigue

Fretting fatigue is a complex tribological phenomenon that can cause premature failure of connected components. Combining with the effects of tribological and fatigue, the components have premature fracture, which ultimately leads to disastrous consequences. In this work, the fretting fatigue tests of 316L austenitic stainless steel have been carried out with same normal load and varied torsional torques. The results indicate that the fretting fatigue life significantly depends on the torque amplitude, wear degree of the fretting damage zone, hysteresis loops and energy dissipation. A physical model for fretting crack initiation and propagation is created to explain the failure process of torsional fretting fatigue. The results from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis show that the extent of oxidation in the fretting damage zone is affected by the amplitude of relative displacement. The tribo-chemical reaction in the slip regime is more activated than that in partial slip regime. It can lead to more severe wear in the slip regime. The wear debris of the fretting damage zone is composed of metallic Fe, Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺.