A two-dimensional contact model between a multilayered solid and a rigid cylinder

Abstract Multilayer coatings are often reported in the papers on surface engineering and have been proved to be able to enhance the toughness, anti-wear and bonding strength, while an understanding of their mechanical behavior is essential to their optimal design and tribological application. In this paper, a two-dimensional contact model of a multilayered solid in line contact with a rigid cylinder is developed based on a semi-analytical method. The frequency response functions, which are essential to producing the influence coefficients of the displacements and stresses components in the contact model with a conversion method based on the fast Fourier transform, are obtained by solving a system of linear equations concerning the unknown constants in the elastic field general solution of layered materials with a numerical method. The present model is validated by comparisons of the contact pressure and von Mises stress between the solutions of the present model and those of the Hertz theory and the finite element contact model. The effect of the elasticity modulus changing mode as well as the layer number of the multilayered solid is further studied by utilizing the present model.