Tribological Damage Behavior of Wire Rope

Many researchers are working on damage of wire rope. In the literature, the study of failure due to tension, bending and fatigue is generally emphasised. However, little work has been reported on the tribological damage behavier including friction, wear and corrosion. According to our earilier study, it was difficult to make clear the friction behavier of wire rope because of a sort of composite material. Therefore the paper attemps to study fundamentally on the tribological damage of steel wire. The experiments involve sliding wear test and fretting test to clarity the effect of sea water on the damage and the ultility of zinc coating. It is concluded that the friction and wear of the steel wire are fairly influenced by the corrosive films formed in sea water and the zinc coating produces a reverse effect on the wear in sea water