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Experimental Investigation of Viscoelastic Rolling Contacts: A Comparison with Theory

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Abstract

We present a detailed experimental investigation on viscoelastic rolling contacts. The tests focus on contact area, penetration and viscoelastic dissipation measurements between a nitrile rubber ball rolling on a glass disc. Each of the measured parameters is shown to be dependent on the rolling speed and normal load and has, therefore, been used to assess the main differences between viscoelastic and linear elastic rolling contacts. Experimental outcomes are compared with numerical predictions of the theory proposed by Carbone and Putignano (J Mech Phys Solid, 2013). A good agreement is found between experiments and theoretical predictions, thus demonstrating the validity of the numerical approach. This has important implications for modelling the behaviour of real viscoelastic materials, whose response is characterised by a wide distribution of relaxation times. The presented methodologies and results can be applied directly or are of relevance to a number of engineering components, such as tires and seals.

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Notes

  1. We observe that, in general, G(x, v) parametrically depends on the thickness h of the layer by means of a geometric correction factor \(\Uptheta (|{\bf x}|/h)\), as shown in [1]. For an infinitely thick layer \((|{\bf x}|/h\rightarrow 0)\), i.e., for a viscoelastic half-space, the correction factor \(\Uptheta (|{\bf x}|/h)\) goes to 1 and G(x, v) is strongly simplified. We also notice that the numerical implementation is also relatively simple if one exploits the Love’s solution for elastic materials [25], as observed in [32].

  2. Here, scatter is defined as σ/μ, i.e., the ratio between the standard deviation σ and the mean measured value μ.

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Acknowledgments

CP and GC thank the support of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, within the Projects PON01_02238 and PON02_00576_3333604.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TriboLAB-Dipartimento di Meccanica, Matematica e Management, Politecnico di Bari, V.le Japigia 182, 70126, Bari, Italy

    Carmine Putignano & Giuseppe Carbone

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    Carmine Putignano, Thomas Reddyhoff & Daniele Dini

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  1. Carmine Putignano
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Correspondence to Carmine Putignano.

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Putignano, C., Reddyhoff, T., Carbone, G. et al. Experimental Investigation of Viscoelastic Rolling Contacts: A Comparison with Theory. Tribol Lett 51, 105–113 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-013-0151-9

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