The Shear-Thinning Elastohydrodynamic Film Thickness of a Two-Component Mixture

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchuan Liu ◽  
Q. Jane Wang ◽  
Ivan Krupka ◽  
Martin Hartl ◽  
Scott Bair

Lubricant base oils are often blends of different molecular weight cuts to arrive at a specified ambient pressure viscosity and, to improve the temperature-viscosity behavior or to simply increase the viscosity, viscosity-modifying polymer additives are often added to the base oil. This paper investigates the effect of mixture rheology on elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) film thickness using EHL contact measurements and a full numerical analysis for three synthetic lubricants including two single-component lubricants PAO650 and PAO100 and a mixture of these. The pressure and shear dependences of the viscosity of these lubricants were measured with high-pressure viscometers; viscosities were not adjusted to fit experiment. The point contact film thicknesses for these lubricants in pure rolling were measured using a thin-film colorimetric interferometry apparatus. Numerical simulations based on the measured rheology show very good agreement with the measurements of film thickness while the Newtonian prediction is up to twice the measurement. These results validate the use of realistic shear-thinning and pressure-viscosity models, which originate from viscosity measurements. It is conceivable that simulation may provide a means to “engineer” lubricants with the optimum balance of film thickness and friction through intelligent mixing of components.

Author(s):  
Yuchuan Liu ◽  
Q. Jane Wang ◽  
Scott Bair ◽  
Philippe Vergne

We present a realistic elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) simulation in point contact using a Carreau-like model for the shear-thinning response and the Doolittle-Tait free-volume viscosity model for the piezoviscous response. The liquid is a high viscosity polyalphaolefin which possesses a relatively low threshold for shear-thinning. As a result, the measured EHL film thickness is about one-half of the Newtonian prediction. We derived and numerically solved the two-dimensional generalized Reynolds equation for the modified Carreau model based on Greenwood [1]. Departing from many previous solutions, the viscosity models used for the pressure and shear dependence were obtained entirely from viscometer measurements. Truly remarkable agreement is found in the comparisons of simulation and experiment for traction coefficient and for film thickness in both pure rolling and sliding cases. This agreement validates the use of a generalized Newtonian model in EHL.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Punit Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsari

An extensive set of full elastohydrodynamic lubrication point contact simulations has been used to develop correction factors to account for the effect of shear-thinning lubricant behavior on the central and minimum film thickness in circular contacts under pure rolling condition. The film thickness for a shear-thinning lubricant can be easily obtained by dividing the corresponding Newtonian film thickness by the appropriate correction factor. Comparisons of the film thickness values obtained using the correction factors have been matched with the published experimental results pertaining to shear-thinning lubricants with a variety of realistic flow and piezoviscous properties under a wide range of operating speed. The good agreement between them establishes the validity and versatility of the correction factors developed in this paper.


Author(s):  
I. I. Kudish ◽  
P. Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsary ◽  
S. Bair

The prediction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) film thickness requires knowledge of the lubricant properties. Today, in many instances, the properties have been obtained from a measurement of the central film thickness in an optical EHL point contact simulator and the assumption of a classical Newtonian film thickness formula. This technique has the practical advantage of using an effective pressure-viscosity coefficient which compensates for shear-thinning. We have shown by a perturbation analysis and by a full EHL numerical solution that the practice of extrapolating from a laboratory scale measurement of film thickness to the film thickness of an operating contact within a real machine may substantially overestimate the film thickness in the real machine if the machine scale is smaller and the lubricant is shear-thinning in the inlet zone.


Author(s):  
C A Holt ◽  
H P Evans ◽  
R W Snidle

The paper describes a numerical solution method for the point contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problem under non-Newtonian, isothermal conditions. The theoretical formulation of the non-Newtonian effect is general and may be applied to both shear thinning and limiting shear stress behaviour. The particular rheological model investigated in this work is the Eyring ‘sinh law’ relation. The numerical solution of the lubrication equations is based upon a control volume approach rather than the more usual methods that utilize a modified Reynolds equation. This new approach ensures that flow continuity is satisfied at the discretization level. Results are presented to show the effect of non-Newtonian behaviour on film thickness and pressure distribution in circular EHL contacts operating over a range of slide-roll ratios from 0 (pure rolling) to 1.5. Under conditions of pure rolling or low sliding there is found to be little effect of non-Newtonian behaviour, but at the highest degree of sliding the film thickness over the central, flattened area of the contact is reduced by up to 10 per cent at the highest rolling speed of 0.75 m/s.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kaneta ◽  
A. Cameron

Optical interferometry was used to study rough surfaces under lubricated point contact. Three dimensional “asperities” of chromium were sputtered onto a steel ball which was run against a smooth glass plate under both rolling and sliding. The experimental results were compared with the various published theories. The film thicknesses found in sliding are different from those observed in pure rolling, which are nearly equal to the theoretical values. Film thickness collapse occurred when the central film thickness/half asperity height ratio (λ ratio) reached a critical value.


Author(s):  
Eduardo de la Guerra Ochoa ◽  
Javier Echávarri Otero ◽  
Enrique Chacón Tanarro ◽  
Benito del Río López

This article presents a thermal resistances-based approach for solving the thermal-elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem in point contact, taking the lubricant rheology into account. The friction coefficient in the contact is estimated, along with the distribution of both film thickness and temperature. A commercial tribometer is used in order to measure the friction coefficient at a ball-on-disc point contact lubricated with a polyalphaolefin base. These data and other experimental results available in the bibliography are compared to those obtained by using the proposed methodology, and thermal effects are analysed. The new approach shows good accuracy for predicting the friction coefficient and requires less computational cost than full thermal-elastohydrodynamic simulations.


Author(s):  
Mingfei Ma ◽  
Wen Wang ◽  
Wenxun Jiang

As a common phenomenon in elastohydrodynamic lubrication, cavitation has an effect on the completeness of the oil film in the contact area. Many studies have therefore been conducted on cavitation. Experimental researches on cavitation usually rely on optical interference observation, which offers a limited resolution and observation range. In this paper, an infrared thermal camera is used to observe the cavity bubbles on a ball-on-disc setup under sliding/rolling conditions. The results show that the cavity length increases with an increases of the entrainment speed and the viscosity of the lubricants. These observations are explained by a numerical model based on Elrod's algorithm. Effects of entrainment speed and lubricant viscosity on the breakup of cavitation bubbles and the cavitation states are investigated. Both the simulation and experimental results show that a negative pressure area is present behind the Hertzian contact area. The ambient pressure plays a role in maintaining cavitation state 1. The cavitation pressure is close to the vacuum pressure when the entrainment speed is low and to the ambient pressure instead when the entrainment speed is high.


Author(s):  
Hai-zhou Huang ◽  
Xi-chuan Niu ◽  
Xiao-yang Yuan

To investigate the thermal EHL (elastohydrodynamic lubrication) in point contact transmission, a model considering the two-dimensional surface velocity of tooth face and the running-in is proposed. The numerical solutions for pressure, temperature and film thickness distribution in the contact zone are obtained by solving equations including the Reynolds, Energy and the elastic displacement with variable dimension meshing method. The model was used to study the point contact transmission of the circular arc gear in a windlass. The main results show that it is pure rolling along the direction of tooth width, and the rolling speed plays a leading role in improving the lubricating performance and transmission efficiency of circular arc gear. The squeeze film effect makes the pressure peak tend to be gentle and the film thickness increase slightly.


A technique using Newton’s rings for mapping the oil film of lubricated point contacts is described. A theoretical value for the film thickness of such contacts in elastohydrodynamic lubrication is derived. The experimental results give the exit constriction predicted by previous theory but never shown in detail. The comparison of theoretical and experimental oil film thicknesses, which is satisfactorily accurate, gives strong evidence for a viscous surface layer some 1000Å thick. This film agrees with the known ‘lubricating power’ of the various oils tested.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangwei Qiu ◽  
Xiaoyang Chen ◽  
Fakai Dong

Purpose This paper aims to experimentally investigate the film-forming capability of base oils containing poly-methacrylate (PMA) and poly-isobutene (PIB), in a point contact under pure rolling. Design/methodology/approach By using the relative light intensity method, the film thickness is calculated from the interferometer images which are captured by multiple-contact optical elastohydrodynamic lubricated test rig. Findings The test results reveal that polymers, both PMA and PIB, have a significant contribution to the film-forming capability of base oils and the film thickness increases with concentration. The forming-film capabilities for PMA and PIB in base oils are similar at low concentration, while PIB gives a higher film thickness than PMA at high concentration. Shear-thinning phenomenon are observed in all polymer-based oils. Originality/value The polymer usually as an additive is added into the low viscosity base oils to improve the properties of lubricant oil. This paper reports the lubricated properties of PMA and PIB with different concentrations in base oils and to evaluate their functional mechanism in a point contact. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2020-0263/


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