Investigation of the effect of temperature on the wear rate and airborne noise in sliding wear

When friction processes occur, wear is generated. The generation of wear also leads to airborne noise. There have been many research studies on wear and its correlation with airborne noise, but most research has focused on experimental aspects, and theoretical models are rare. Furthermore, analytical models do not fully account for the wear and airborne noise generation, especially at an asperitical level. One model was developed that gave a reasonable quantification for the relationship between wear and airborne noise generation at an asperitical level under room temperature. In this paper, the accuracy of the model is assessed at higher temperatures. Two materials were set up on a tribometer (aluminium and iron) at 300 RPM. The samples were tested at two different temperatures (40 and 60 degrees) and two different loads were applied (10 N and 20 N). The model computed the predicted wear and sound pressure, and it was compared with the experimental results. The errors are larger for the wear than when the model was validated at room temperature. However, the increase in the error for the sound pressure was smaller at higher temperatures (approximately 20–30%). This is due to the assumptions that were made in the initial model, which are exacerbated when higher temperatures are applied. For example, flash temperatures were neglected in the original model. However, when initial heat is applied, the effects of flash temperatures could be more significant than when no heat is applied. Further refinements could improve the accuracy of the model to increase its validity in a wider temperature range.