Influence of Crystallographic Orientation on Energy Dissipation During Sliding

This work presents the results of a finite element study of the sliding contact of interfering cylindrical asperities. One asperity is modeled as elastic with steel properties, while the other asperity is modeled as elastic-plastic copper. The simulations were run using two different plasticity models for copper, conventional J₂ plasticity describing an initially homogeneous material and a continuum crystal plasticity model that can capture the influence of crystallographic orientation on the deformation response. The use of the crystal plasticity model and frictionless contact enables us to study the dependence of plastic deformation and energy dissipation as a function of crystal orientation and vertical interference. The relative trends predicted using crystal plasticity are consistent with classical experiments showing the dependence of friction with crystal orientation when plastic deformation is the primary energy dissipation mechanism.