The background of the present study is the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) in a brittle polymer disk. The disk has been tested on a two disk machine, under controlled normal and tangential loads, with no global slip. After several million cycles and under different operating conditions, it has been observed that (1) the tangential load highly influences the RCF phenomenon, (2) a network of regularly spaced cracks appears, and (3) in the driving position, the RCF phenomenon develops faster. To explain these observations, a numerical model based on the finite element method (FEM) has been built: the cracks have been quite simply modeled, stick-slip has been chosen as the friction model, and the disk-on-disk contact has been replaced by a disk-on-plane contact. To study the influence of some of the operating conditions, the design of experiments (DOE) techniques has been used. The statistical postprocessing associated to DOE has confirmed the experimental observations with a good reliability. In addition, with some mechanical considerations, scenarios of what experimentally happens are proposed. The association FEM/DOE is an original and efficient way to explain phenomena in the field of RCF: the accuracy of the FEM coupled with DOE statistical treatments make it possible to have a good predictability despite some uncontrolled parameters.

This article presents the investigations on modified mechanical and wear characteristics of cement kiln dust (CKD) reinforced homogeneous epoxy composites and its functionally graded materials developed for tribological applications. CKD reinforced homogeneous and functionally graded epoxy composites are developed by simple mechanical stirring and vertical centrifugal casting technique, respectively. Mechanical properties of these graded composites are evaluated and compared with those of homogenously filled epoxy composites. Sliding wear tests are conducted over a range of sliding velocities (105–314 cm/s), normal loads (20–40 N), filler contents ( 0 – 20 wt % ) , and sliding distances (0.5–2 km). For this, a pin-on-disk machine and the design of experiments approach using Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays are used. A theoretical model is proposed for estimating the sliding wear rates for homogeneous, as well as graded composites. The results found from the theoretical model so proposed are found to be in good agreement with the experimental values under similar test conditions. This study reveals that the presence of cement kiln dust particles enhances the sliding wear resistance of epoxy resin and the homogeneous composites suffer greater wear loss than the graded composites. scanning electron microscopy micrograph confirms the graded dispersion of CKD particles in the matrix.