Solution of temperature distribution under frictional heating with consideration of material inhomogeneity

Nonmetallic inclusions and defects can be commonly found in the initial metallurgical process of metal. This paper studies the influence of the size, position and interval of inhomogeneities on temperature field of inhomogeneous materials under frictional heating. A thermo-mechanical model of point contact is established based on the semi-analytical method, the equivalent inclusion method and three-dimensional high-order theory. The developed algorithm has good stability and convergence. The results show that the large inclusion size near the contact surface has significant effect on the temperature field. When the thermal conductivity of inhomogeneity is higher than that of the substrate, the temperature rise in the contact zone is lower; otherwise, opposite trend is observed.