Modeling contact deformation of bare and coated rough metal bodies

The effect of the presence of a passivation layer on a metal rough surface during contact loading is investigated by means of dislocation dynamics simulations. The metal body is modeled as an FCC single crystal with a self-affine rough surface that is either bare, or covered by a thin coating, impenetrable to dislocations. This analysis permits to isolate the effect of surface roughening driven by dislocation motion: when the surface is bare the dislocations can glide out, leaving crystallographic steps at the surface that modify the local roughness; when the surface is passivated, dislocations are stopped by the interface.

Automated summary

The effect of a passivation layer on a rough metal surface during contact loading is studied using dislocation dynamics simulations. The metal body is modeled as an FCC single crystal with a self-affine rough surface, which can be either bare or covered by a thin coating that is impenetrable to dislocations. The simulation allows for analyzing the influence of surface roughening caused by dislocation motion, where bare surfaces result in crystallographic steps due to dislocation glide, while passivated surfaces stop dislocations at the interface.