Thermo - mechanical instabilities in friction contact

The phenomenon of corrugated surfaces is a known technical problem of tribological systems; considerable work has been published in the past on the aspect of rail corrugation of railway systems. Less known is a similar phenomenon observed within the cylinder-piston system of advanced automotive engines using aluminium cylinders. This paper investigates the condition leading to cylinder corrugation in the piston/cylinder system. Material investigations strongly indicate that heat in the contact is playing a major role. Using basic analytical relationships from contact mechanics, the condition required for the onset of such thermo-mechanical instabilities are investigated. Using the concept of a critical velocity it is shown that such instabilities can occur for a realistic set of parameters. A significant technical key factor is the friction coefficient.