Contribution to the Study of Plastic Mechanics Models of Solid-Solid Contacts

Abstract

The mechanical and thermal contact behaviour between two solids depends mainly on the contact geometry and the nature of these two solids. It is concluded that for rough surfaces in plastic contact the real contact is affected by the materials hardness, the surfaces roughness and the evolution of the mechanical contact deformation. The aim of the present study is to compare results obtained from experimental work on Vickers hardness of brass to those of the real contact pressure (RCP) obtained by numeric simulation. Hardness and RCP have been selected as physical quantities. For the numerical simulation, three three-dimensional element models are developed; firstly, we simulated Vickers assay using rigid indentor and a deformed plane surface of brass. In the second model we considered a brass indenter in contact with hard plane surface. The dimensions of the second model were changed to create the third model. The obtained results from the numeric models were in agreement with the experimental findings and confirmed the hypothesis of Abbott and Firstone. The three models of simulation may help to select the model that give the best results in short time.