The paper presents the basic principles for the implementation of experimental studies of the tribological characteristics of friction pairs, taking into account the effect of a magnetic field on them. It has been established that modern experimental studies are carried out on laboratory units using powerful tools to analyze the data obtained, which makes it possible to study the structures of systems by changing the properties of materials under the influence of external factors and wear processes. Taking into account the influence and further research in tribo-conjugated metal bodies (for example, a wheel-rail) of such factors as magnetostriction, external magnetic field (constant, alternating, pulsed), current (direct, alternating, pulsed) passing through the contact, acting both separately, and in various combinations, the design of an experimental laboratory installation was proposed and implemented. The installation allows testing with two types of friction sliding and rolling with sliding. To measure the friction force (friction coefficient), a 6-wire bridge circuit is used, which is described in the article. The paper shows a diagram of a noise-immune strain-gauge circuit of the installation, which allows a significant level of interference during research. Due to the fact that the friction coefficient with a change in temperature can vary over a wide range, the proposed installation implements a method for automatic temperature compensation in the contact zone of tribological samples. The use of thermocouples is proposed as temperature sensors. The signals from the thermocouples of the installation are transmitted to a measuring device consisting of an analog-to-digital converter and a personal computer. The proposed laboratory setup allows for a wide range of tribological testing studies and monitoring of processes in the friction zone exposed to the magnetic field.
