Experimental and theoretical investigation of running-in

In this paper, the running-in and steady-state wear in the mixed-EHL line contact problem are analytically and experimentally studied. An experimental apparatus is designed and built to investigate the transient wear process during the initial stage of contact of two rollers with fresh surfaces as well as the contact of broken-in surfaces, when wear rate becomes steady. Seven experiments are conducted with five running-in experiments on fresh rollers and two steady-state experiments on the run-in rollers. The results of experimental tests and a series of simulations of an analytical model that uses the load-sharing concept and accounts for plastic deformation of asperities during the running-in stage are presented. The comparison of experimentally measured wear weight, wear depth, surface roughness, friction coefficient, and surface temperature of these seven experiments are shown to be in good agreement with the simulation results. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.