Fretting tests are of considerable practical importance to increase the reliability of machinery and to reduce design costs. They are frequently conducted on expensive, special apparatus. A reduction of outlay on research work is possible through the use of a universal test rig and commercially available equipment. In this paper a fretting test method is proposed using a servohydraulic testing machine.

Tests on the effect of residual stresses on fretting wear of bearing steels were performed for the purpose of verifying the proposed methodology. The test results are compared with data given in other publications which validate the method.