Finite element modeling of plastic deformation, crack growth and wear particle formation for sliding wear of power plant components

Wear could occur in many machinery components that are subjected to reciprocating sliding motion, after only a few cycles of loading. For example, in nuclear steam generators, the tubes are subjected to impact and sliding wear. A mathematical model that simulates wear would be of interest to researchers for the development of wear maps which could in turn enable mechanical designers to predict the wear damage and the life expectancy of a component in contact. A wear process invariably starts with very high strains as a result of plastic deformation due to the contact loading. The plastically deformed material, going through cyclic loading due to normal and tangential contact traction, results in crack initiation and crack propagation which finally detach thin layers of material over a number of cycles. This paper describes attempts to study the contact deformation process using a finite element technique. The phenomenon of the crack initiation process is further investigated using the results of the FE model of contact deformation. The results from the FE model are compared with that obtained through other studies and later, from experimentation.