Fast Fourier Transform analysis of computer-acquired friction data

A commercial computer program for data acquisition and analysis has been used to facilitate the evaluation of the frequency content of friction force data obtained from a sliding wear test. The program uses a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm to calculate the frequency spectrum of the friction force. The validity of the FFT program has been demonstrated by applying it to a recently published example that used a detailed mathematical treatment to remove an oscillatory component from friction data. When applied to friction force data from a pin-on-disk sliding wear test of NBD 200 silicon nitride sliding on NBD 100 silicon nitride, filtering of the dominant frequencies revealed by the FFT method reduces both the general dispersion of the friction values and almost completely eliminates localized signal perturbations. Successive filtering steps permit the association of particular frequencies with observed signal disturbances. Although the mean friction value in this example is not greatly altered by th...