Thermoelastic contact mechanics for a flat punch sliding over a graded coating/substrate system with frictional heat generation

The problem of thermoelastic contact mechanics for the coating/substrate system with functionally graded properties is investigated, where the rigid flat punch is assumed to slide over the surface of the coating involving frictional heat generation. With the coefficient of friction being constant, the inertia effects are neglected and the solution is obtained within the framework of steady-state plane thermoelasticity. The graded material exists as a nonhomogeneous interlayer between dissimilar, homogeneous phases of the coating/substrate system or as a nonhomogeneous coating deposited on the substrate. The material nonhomogeneity is represented by spatially varying thermoelastic moduli expressed in terms of exponential functions. The Fourier integral transform method is employed and the formulation of the current thermoelastic contact problem is reduced to a Cauchy-type singular integral equation of the second kind for the unknown contact pressure. Numerical results include the distributions of the contact pressure and the in-plane component of the surface stress under the prescribed thermoelastic environment for various combinations of geometric, loading, and material parameters of the coated medium. Moreover, in order to quantify and characterize the singular behavior of contact pressure distributions at the edges of the flat punch, the stress intensity factors are defined and evaluated in terms of the solution to the governing integral equation. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.