Developing elastic–plastic material models for pressure measurement films in a steel–steel contact for smooth and rough surfaces

The contact zone between two steel components can be identified by utilizing a pressure measurement film in the contact between them. To reduce the number of necessary experiments, it is possible to simulate the contact situation using “finite element analysis.” This analysis requires material models for the contact partners and for the pressure measurement films. It is known that the pressure measurement film deforms not only elastically but also plastically. Taking this plastic deformation into account requires an appropriate material model such as the Drucker–Prager model. Based on published data of experiments with pressure measurement films that had been inserted between smooth and rough Hertzian bodies, we developed material models for three pressure measurement films. The roughness of a Hertzian body was studied by determining multiple pressure–clearance curves for three different surface roughnesses and for three different pressure measurement films. These curves were developed with micromodels, which represented a small section of the rough contact surface. An average curve for each material was then implemented in the macromodel for each roughness representing the contact situation. Subsequently, the resulting contact areas were compared with the published experimental data. This comparison showed that the material model for the smooth contact was able to emulate the experimentally determined contact areas. Including the pressure–clearance curves in the material model allowed the simulation of the rough contact situation. However, the deviation between the simulated and the experimental data was slightly larger for the rough surface than for the smooth surface.