Prediction of Wear Resistance of Sliding Couplers

Abstract

The necessity to predict optimal wear resistance of sliding couplers at the design stage is grounded. A tribological analysis of the wear of sliding couplers is carried out during the entire period of operation in various modes corresponding to the following stages: start-up, steady-state wear and shutdown. The existing approaches to solving contact problems in the interaction of solids, taking into account physico-mechanical processes in the surface layers of couplers during their wear, are analyzed. A wear model is proposed based on the destruction of the contacting surfaces of a coupler with the separation of particles, which size varies depending on the load characteristics, physico-mechanical and structural parameters, thermal properties, quality of the lubricant, etc. The results of testing prototypes for wear resistance and numerical implementation of the proposed model for predicting the wear resistance of a sliding coupler with similar characteristics are presented. It is found out that the proposed wear model makes it possible to predict (calculate) the wear resistance of a sliding coupler in a certain range by changing the initial data, thereby eliminating the need for rather laborious tests of couplers for wear under the influence of various factors.