LAUSR

Abstract The authors of this paper made an attempt to explain fretting wear development in the wheel – axle connection in model studies simulating actual exploitation conditions. The tests consisted of two stages. In the first one it was of essential importance to check the actual state of the surface and surface layer of both the elements after having made press-fit joint and the influence on this state of some chosen factors, such as the forced in value and the surface roughness. The second stage included fatigue tests of the connection in the conditions of rotary bending as well as macro- and microscopic analysis of the registered damages in order to determine the processes initiating wear development. On the basis of the achieved results the authors formulated the mechanism of fretting wear development in a press-fit joint in which the most important element is the phenomenon of adhesion. It was found that in fretting wear development initiation in a press-fit joint, adhesion phenomenon plays a decisive role, forming and breaking adhesive connections. The remaining types of wear, such as plastic deformation, oxidation, micro-machining play a minor role, intensifying the damaged formed earlier as a result of breaking adhesive connections.