# Interplay Between Wear and Thermal Expansion in 6082 Aluminum: A Simulation and Experimental Study
## 4 Conclusions  
This study investigates the interplay between wear and thermal expansion in 6082 aluminum, using a pin-on-disc tribometer and FEA under various mechanical conditions. The focus is on understanding how these phenomena influence each other, impacting wear evolution and temperature rise during sliding contact. The key findings from our research include the following:  
* Thermal expansion creates a protrusion at the contact area, reducing the contact area compared to wear-only conditions. * The combined effects of wear and thermal expansion create a dynamic interplay, shifting the contact region and pressure distribution outward from the disc center. This dynamic contact behavior leads to distinct wear evolution and temperature distribution compared to scenarios with only wear or thermal expansion. * Thermal expansion alters wear patterns, with high expansion shifting the maximum wear depth from the nominal contact center to outer regions, especially under higher rotational speeds and loads. * Without thermal expansion, wear-only conditions overestimate the friction dissipation rate, resulting in a higher maximum temperature than when both wear and thermal expansion are considered. * The disc undergoes significant radial expansion due to uneven thermal energy accumulation, with the outer regions deforming more than the inner ones. Over time, this deformation progresses downward, giving the disc a causeway-like shape with narrow ends and a wider center. These findings enhance our understanding of the complex relationship between wear and thermal expansion in 6082 aluminum under sliding contact. However, this study has limitations, including not accounting for the randomness of wear. This omission may cause the model's predicted wear depth to differ significantly from experimental results under light loads and slow sliding speeds, where surface roughness and trapped debris dominate wear. Additionally, focusing solely on 6082 aluminum limits the results' applicability to other materials without further investigation. Future research could explore this wear-thermal expansion interplay in other materials and examine the effects of lubrication and surface treatments. Such studies could offer deeper insights for optimizing tribological performance. Thermal expansion shifts wear patterns from the center to the periphery under specific conditions, helping engineers optimize operating conditions or redesign components to prolong the lifespan of frictional parts. Considering wear-induced changes in contact behavior is essential for the accurate design and evaluation of frictional heat, as ignoring thermal effects may result in temperature overestimation. Thermal expansion affects frictional dissipation rates during sliding, and managing this interaction helps reduce frictional losses. This optimization lowers energy consumption in mechanical systems such as engines and motors, supporting energy-efficient designs. Additionally, air cooling can be used to reduce the effects of thermal expansion to validate future simulations that ignore thermal effects. Y.T. : Conceptualization of this study, methodology, software development, and preparation of the original draft. M.K. ([PERSON]): Data curation and conducting the experiments. M.K. ([PERSON]): Conceptualization, methodology, and supervision of the study. Y.Y. : Data curation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research received no external funding. * (21) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON], O.S. A physically-based constitutive model applied to AA6082 aluminium alloy at large strains, high strain rates and elevated temperatures. _Mater. Des._**2016**, _103_, 391-405. [CrossRef]
* (22) [PERSON]; [PERSON] Penalty and Augmented Lagrangian Methods. In _Introduction to Methods for Nonlinear Optimization_; Springer International Publishing: Cham, Switzerland, 2023; pp. 441-479. * (23) [PERSON] Fretting wear mechanical analysis of double rough surfaces based on energy method. _Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part J. Eng.