The Influence of Texture Discreteness on the Stress-Strain State of the Tribosurface After Preliminary Profiling

The study of surface interaction in contact, the subject of friction and tribology as a science, has become increasingly important in various industries, from automotive to medicine. In the research presented below, we will simulate a part of the technological process of rolled steel surface strengthening during its sequential contact with a roller and subsequent drawing under a press (tribocontact). Moreover, contact with a roller is performed with two variations: a smooth surface of the roller and a surface with notches to achieve the effect of texture discreteness on the surface of rolled steel by profiling it. Such an approach makes it possible to reveal the dependence of the surface configuration and its profiling with plastic deformation on the model maximum and average stresses. The hypothesis of average surface stress decrease by the growth of the discreteness index is confirmed: 322 MPa (smooth surface) vs 307 MPa (profiled). The situation with the max stresses is the opposite – they are higher by 34% in the case of the profiled surface with notches than the smooth one (590 MPa vs 440 MPa). Before FEA, the suggested mathematical modeling algorithm allows the determination of the notches stress based on the geometry of the surface irregularities and the von Mises stress magnitude calculated for a smooth surface (which is significantly more accessible). The final tribocontact of rolled steel at flat press pressure gives positive results – the surface is smoothed: the max amplitude of irregularities decreased from 0.12 mm to 0.049 mm while the stresses even dropped by almost 2%.