Reduction of time for development by correlation, modeling and simulation of different test categories in the qualification of plastic / metal tribological systems

• Applicants: Dr. Peter Klein; Professor Dr.-Ing. Alois K. Schlarb
• Subject Area: Plastics Engineering ; Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development ; Materials in Sintering Processes and Generative Manufacturing Processes
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 279587428

In the development of mechanical units containing tribological components, the first step of materials selection or pre-selection is based on simple test configurations such as pin-on-disk or block-on-ring configurations. The following development reflects the complexity of geometry and conditions of operation by passing thru 5 additional categories until the final unit is approved for use. This approach ensures on the one hand from a reliable and safe operation of the unit in the application, but on the other hand, involves enormous experimental efforts and costs. By identifying correlations between different test categories and ultimately modeling and simulation, the relationships between different test categories will be investigated and described. The procedure in the proposed project is to investigate these relationships in the behavior by using different experimental standards and intermediate geometry in the first two categories (VI and V) of tribological testing and finally predict the system properties in category V based on simple tests performed in category VI. The ultimate aim of the work is to replace the experimental effort in category V completely by simulations und finally reduce cost and time in the development cycle of tribological components.In particular, we would like to address the following goals:* Creation of a FE micro model for homogenizing the thermal, mechanical and tribological properties.* Creation of a thermo-mechanical finite element model to simulate the temperature distribution of the deformation and wear.* Description of the heat balance in a standard experimental set up (block-on-ring).* Description of thermally and mechanically induced deformations in a standard experimental set up .* Description of the heat balance and the deformations in a final component design oriented test set.* Description of the interaction of temperature and tribological properties.* Comparison of the tribological properties of the different systems and investigate the correlation based on the heat balance

• DFG Programme: Research Grants