Skip to main content
Log in

A novel test rig for in situ and real time optical measurement of the contact area evolution during pre-sliding of a spherical contact

  • Published:
Tribology Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An experimental test rig was developed in order to investigate elastic–plastic single micro-spherical contact under combined normal and tangential loading. This novel apparatus allows in situ and real time direct optical measurement of the real contact area (RCA) evolution in pre-sliding. It also allows relative displacement measurements under very low rates of tangential loading (down to 0.01 N/s) to capture accurately the fine details at sliding inception. This is achieved by piezoelectric actuation in closed loop feedback control in addition to synchronization with data and image acquisition to obtain real time measurement. The RCA measurement is realized by direct optical observation technique, whereas two different image processing algorithms were implemented for the elastic and the elastic–plastic contact regimes. The various features and capabilities of the test rig are presented along with some preliminary experimental results of RCA and friction behavior to assess its performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
Figure 7.
Figure 8.
Figure 9.
Figure 10.
Figure 11.
Figure 12.
Fig. 13.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P.W. O’Callaghan, S.D. Probert, (1987) Wear 120: 29–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. K.L. Woo, T.R. Thomas, (1980) Wear 58: 331–340

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. B. Bushan, (1985) ASLE Trans. 28: 75–86

    Google Scholar 

  4. J. Cortney-Prat, E. Eisner, (1957) R. Soc. Lond. 238A: 529–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. F. Aymerich, M. Pau, (2004) J. Tribol. 126: 639–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. M. Pau, F. Aymerich, F. Ginesu, (2002) Wear 253: 265–274

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. R. Dwyer-Joyce, B. Drinkwater, (2003) Tribol. Lett. 14: 41–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. R. Parker, D. Hatch, (1950) Proc. Phys. Soc. (Lond.) B63: 185–197

    Google Scholar 

  9. M. Chaudhri, (1981) Philos. Magaz. A 44: 667–675

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Chaudhri, I. Hutchings, P. Makin, (1984) Philos. Magaz. A 49: 493–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. K. Tanaka, (1984) Wear 100: 243–262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. C. Constantinou, M. Chaudhri, (1989) J. Mater. Sci. 24: 4279–4292

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. E. Diaconescu, M. Glovnea, Evaluation of contact area by reflectivity 3rd Aimeta International Tribology Conference, Italy 2002

  14. S. Lo, S. Tsai, (2002) J. Tribol. 124: 229–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. K. Adachi, K. Kato, J. Liu, and H. Kawamura, The effect of contact morphology on initiation and propagation of micro-slip at contact interface ASME/STLE International Joint Tribology Conference, California USA 2004

  16. A. Azushima, S. Kuba, S. Tani, D. Olsson, (2006) Wear 260: 258–264

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. T. Klinger, Image Processing with LabVIEW™ IMAQ™ Vision (Prentice Hall PTR, 2003)

  18. L. Kogut, I. Etsion, (2002) J. Appl. Mech. Trans. ASME 69: 657–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. S. Timoshenko and J. Goodier, Theory of Elasticity 3rd ed. (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1970)

  20. I. Etsion, O. Levinson, G. Halperin, M. Varenberg, (2005) J. Tribol. 127-1: 47–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. D. Tabor, (1959) Proc. R. Soc. A 251: 378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. Etsion.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ovcharenko, A., Halperin, G., Etsion, I. et al. A novel test rig for in situ and real time optical measurement of the contact area evolution during pre-sliding of a spherical contact. Tribol Lett 23, 55–63 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-006-9113-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-006-9113-9

Keywords

Navigation