A study of the high frequency intermittency events occurringduring the fretting of contact surfaces used for in-vivo electronicsystems, is presented. The emphasis of the study is to determineand the relationship between the contact resistance duringthe fretting process and to relate this to surface wear, as a functionof the applied force. The emphasis is on fretting experiments in thecrossed rod configuration with a range of contact forces, between1.75 and 0.05 N.An established test system and test methodology are used for thestudy, but in the paper the additional control of the contact forceand the measurement of the surface wear using a 3-D surface scanningsystem is introduced. The level of the applied voltage and currentare critical in defining the intermittency events; in this studya dry circuit test, with 20 mV and 100 mA supply is used. The resultsshow that for the materials used, intermittency events occurduring every fretting cycle after an initial settling period; that thecontact force level is directly coupled to the wear in-line with establishedtheory; and that the minimum contact resistance is linked tothe established relationship with force.
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