Influence of relative slip on fretting fatigue behaviour of 2014 aluminium alloy with the age-hardened conditions T4 and T6

The present work deals with the effect of relative slip on fretting fatigue behaviour of 2014 Aluminium alloy with age-hardened conditions T4 and T6 in contact with a dissimilar mating material AISI 1045 steel, using a plane-on-plane configuration. There are a significant number of parameters influencing fretting fatigue behaviour. Relative slip value between the specimen and fretting pad is one of the most important factors. In the present study, the influence of relative slip was evaluated at different cyclic stress levels by using a fretting pad with a single pad span value of 10 mm. The results show the artificial temper T6 is more effective for improving the fretting fatigue life when compared with natural temper T4. This may be attributed to a higher microstructural barrier to the fretting fatigue crack nucleation and initiation, due to having lower values of relative slip with artificial temper T6.