Monitoring of sliding contact with wear by means of piezoelectric interlayer parameters

The contact problem on frictional sliding of a rigid body over a coating's surface is considered. During sliding, frictional heating and wear of the coating takes place at the contact interface. A piezoelectric interlayer is placed between the coating and the rigid substrate, which edges are perfectly bonded to the substrate and to the lower boundary of the coating. Electrodes are located at the edges of the interlayer, being connected to the control circuit and subjected to electric potential difference. Solutions of the problem were represented in form of the Laplace convolutions. They allow to determine relationship between electric current in the interlayer and main parameters of the contact: temperature, contact stresses, displacements, coating's wear. Also the obtained solutions show that one can alter contact parameters by changing the potential difference on electrodes of the interlayer.