Introduction to fretting fundamentals

Fretting is considered as a specific type of surface damage resulting from cyclic stress between two nominally stationary components. It is important to situate fretting damage within a wider context of five basic wear mechanisms, namely (i) adhesive wear, (ii) abrasive wear, (iii) fatigue wear, (iv) corrosive wear, and (v) erosive wear. Tribological surface damage process generally involves more than one wear mechanism taking place at the same time, and these mechanisms can interact with synergistic effects. Hence, fretting is sometimes wrongly identified as a wear mechanism, rather than a phenomenon resulting from a synergy between existing basic wear mechanisms, i.e., adhesive wear, corrosive wear, and abrasive wear.