Numerical and finite element contact temperature analysis of real composite-steel surfaces in sliding contact

Numerical techniques have been developed and used to evaluate the contact temperature distribution between real composite-steel surfaces in sliding contact, To characterise the contact temperature problem of composite materials new definitions for composite Peclet numbers have been introduced. In case of 'slow sliding' problems a stationary numerical technique was applied, whereas for 'intermediate and fast sliding' problems transient finite element (FE) solutions were preferred. At first sliding contacts of a si ng le steel asperity over polyetheretherketone (PEEK) or carbon fibre (CF)/PEEK composite surfaces were modelled in order to study the contact temperature development on a microscopic level, It was followed by contact temperature results for real composite-steel sliding surfaces; the latter helped to provide information about the actual stress conditions, which are necessary to model the wear process of this pair of materials in future works, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.