After having checked in a previous study the influence of stroke and normal load in laboratory fretting tests accomplished with thin steel roping wires, in this paper the effect of the contact pressure (test configuration), environmental conditions (relative humidity) and reduction of the friction coefficient (lubricants) on the wear behaviour were analysed. The wires were 0.45 mm in diameter and the material was a cold-drawn eutectoid carbon steel (0.8% C) with a Tensile Strength over 2800 MPa. The tests were performed on an oscillating test rig and the volumetric wear of both specimens of the tribo-couple was determined separately from three-dimensional topographies of the wear scars acquired by means of a confocal profiler, and a calculation algorithm developed in using MATLAB~®. The strong effect of humidity and lubrication on wear behaviour was proved, whereas a slight effect of contact pressure was derived.
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