Understanding the Mechanism of Load-Carrying Capacity between Parallel Rough Surfaces through a Deterministic Mixed Lubrication Model

Experimental results have confirmed that parallel rough surfaces can be separated by a full fluid film. However, such a lift-off effect is not expected by the traditional Reynolds theory. This paper proposes a deterministic mixed lubrication model to understand the mechanism of the lift-off effect. The proposed model considered the interaction between asperities and the micro-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (micro-EHL) at asperities within parallel rough surfaces for the first time. The proposed model is verified by predicting the measured Stribeck curve taken from literature and experiments conducted in this work. The simulation results highlight that the micro-EHL effect at the asperity scale is critical in building load-carrying capacity between parallel rough surfaces. Finally, the drawbacks of the proposed model are addressed and the directions of future research are pointed out.

Friction Analysis Of Waste Palm Methyl Ester (WPME) Under Stribeck Lubrication Regimes

This paper aims to investigate the tribological friction using the Stribeck curve lubrication regime using an alternative source of biodiesel. Replacement of current usage of fossil fuels is essential, therefore, it is important to develop a proper recycling, renewable and sustainable product that reduces global warming. Biodiesel also known as Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME), is biodegradable, produced from a renewable source, non-toxic, and produces a minimum greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce raw material cost, waste cooking oil is one of the most suitable replacements of vegetable oil for biodiesel synthesis. Rheological behavior of Waste Palm Methyl Ester (WPME), such as kinematic viscosity, density, and acid value, was measured based on EN14214 and compared with Palm Methyl Ester (PME). The friction performance of WPME was evaluated using a pin on the disc tribometer machine. The influence of different operating conditions such as loads at 1kg, 2kg, 3kg and 4kg and sliding velocity range from 0.00625 m/s to 4 m/s were optimized in this study. The preliminary result shows significant changes on the Stribeck curve concerning the sliding speed and also loads. It is found that as for the same entrainment velocity and surface roughness, a higher load will initiate a higher temperature, thus lead to decreasing the viscosity and coefficient of friction. In summary, WPME is highly considered as a potential waste that can replace the current energy source.

Wear Behaviors of Stainless Steel and Lubrication Effect on Transitions in Lubrication Regimes in Sliding Contact

The wear behavior of AISI304 stainless steel was investigated under dry, water-, and oil-lubricated conditions. A block-on-disk wear test was conducted in this work, since the test conditions could be controlled easily. For oil-lubricated contact, a significant amount of thin and elongated cutting chip-like debris was observed. This is attributed to the high lubricating effect of oil. Strain-induced martensitic (SIM) transformation was observed for all AISI304 blocks after the wear test, while AISI304 consisted of a single γ-austenite phase prior to the wear test. The Stribeck curve and the corresponding lubrication regimes were also considered to explain the wear behaviors and lubrication effect of AISI304. In comparison to the dry or water-lubricated conditions, which fall in the boundary lubrication regime at a low rotation speed, it is considered that the high viscosity of the oil-based lubricant causes the lubrication condition to enter the mixed lubrication regime early at a lower speed, thus reducing the specific wear rate over the 100–300 rpm range.

An improved contact model considered the effect of boundary lubrication regime on piston ring-liner contact for the two-stroke marine engines from the perspective of the Stribeck curve

The prediction of lubrication performance is required to be the basement of friction optimization for marine engines. This paper simulates the lubrication performance of marine engines based on statistical models which have the advantages of fast, efficient, and macroscopic fault location. Boundary lubrication exists in the piston ring-cylinder liner (PRCL) of two-stroke marine engines because of the harsher load, lower speed, and larger structure. It has been proposed that there would be tribofilm under boundary lubrication which has a significant influence on the contact. To understand the boundary lubrication, it is necessary to study the lubrication regime transition. In this paper, firstly, the coefficient of friction curve combined with the thickness ratio embodies the lubrication regime transition process of two-stroke engines under work conditions. However, the phenomenon that the coefficients under boundary lubrication are smaller than that of other regimes shows the non-objectivity of this curve. Therefore, the Stribeck curve is introduced for objectively evaluating the transition. Then, the calculation of asperities contact pressure under boundary lubrication, which Wen proposed, is introduced into the classic Greenwood-Williamson model, the problem that the original model cannot reflect the boundary lubrication regime in the form of the Stribeck curve is improved. Finally, the results are compared before and after modifying the model to verify this study’s practicability. It provides more precise asperities contact pressure for the tribofilm growth calculation from the perspective of the Stribeck curve under the PRCL statistical model in future work.

A Design of Partial Textured Surface on Gear Washers for Reducing Friction and Wear under Low Speed and Heavy Load Conditions

This paper presents the effort to reduce friction and wear of gear washers under low-speed and heavy-load conditions by designing the arrangement of surface textures. The influence of distributional parameters of textures on load-bearing capacity and friction coefficient of gear washers are studied numerically to obtain a preferable surface texturing design. Then, experimental tests were carried out to plot the Stribeck curves of the obtained texture arrangement compared with bare surface and another unoptimizable texture distribution arrangement to facilitate the verification of the simulation results. Theoretical predictions illustrate that the annular gear washers with partial surface texturing provide lower friction coefficients than bare washers. Textures having a sector angle of 20°, a coverage angle of 12°, a circumferential number of 8, and a radial number of 6 are selected as the final optimal surface texture distribution design. Experimental results confirm that the obtained texture arrangement moves the Stribeck curve towards the lower left, indicating thickening of oil film thickness and reduction in friction coefficient. In addition, the weight loss caused by wear is also reduced by the optimized texture design.

Experimental research on the wall-wetting effects on the frictional property of the cylinder liner–piston ring pair

The application of novel injection strategies (high-pressure injection, early injection, retarded injection, etc.) in combustion engines has made the wall-wetting problem severer. As the splashed fuel dilutes the lubricating oil, the tribological performance of the cylinder liner–piston ring pair will be affected. In this research, the viscosity and wettability tests were conducted firstly by mixing diesel into lubrication oil. It was found that the dynamic viscosity of the mixture drops with more fuel diluting the oil, and a small quantity of diesel mixed will cause a remarkable decline in lubricant viscosity; also, the contact angle shows a downward trend with the increasing diluting ratio. Then based on several typical diluting ratios, the reciprocating friction tests were carried out to measure the instantaneous friction force of the production ring/liner pair. The experimental results showed that under a mixed lubrication state, the peak friction force of the ring/liner pair occurs around the dead centers, while the minimum force occurs at the middle position of the reciprocating stroke; with more fuel diluting the oil, the bearing capacity of oil film degrades, resulting in the increase of friction force. In addition, the average friction coefficient of the ring/liner pair shows an upward trend with the increasing diluting ratio, and the Stribeck curve moves toward the upper-left, which means the lubrication condition of this pair tends to transit from mixed lubrication to boundary lubrication, causing negative effects on the frictional property of the cylinder liner–piston ring pair. Therefore, the diluting ratio should be controlled under 20%.

Two-scale homogenization of hydrodynamic lubrication in a mechanical seal with isotropic roughness based on the Elrod cavitation algorithm

A two-scale homogenization method for modelling the hydrodynamic lubrication of mechanical seals with isotropic roughness was developed and presented the influence of surface topography coupled into the lubricating domain. A linearization approach was derived to link the effects of surface topography across disparate scales. Solutions were calculated in a polar coordinate system derived based on the Elrod cavitation algorithm and were determined using homogenization of periodic simulations describing the lubrication of a series of surface topographical features. Solutions obtained for the hydrodynamic lubrication regime showed that the two-scale homogenization approach agreed well with lubrication theory in the case without topography. Varying topography amplitude demonstrated that the presence of surface topography improved tribological performance for a mechanical seal in terms of increasing load-carrying capacity and reducing friction coefficient in the radial direction. A Stribeck curve analysis was conducted, which indicated that including surface topography led to an increase in load-carrying capacity and a reduction in friction. A study of macro-scale surface waviness showed that the micro-scale variations observed were smaller in magnitude but cannot be obtained without the two-scale method and cause significant changes in the tribological performance.

Experimental study on the coefficient of friction of the ball screw

The coefficient of friction (COF) is a key factor to estimate the performance of ball screws. Pieces of research focus on the experimental study of the COF, leading to the COF chosen empirically in many studies. To acquire the COF of the HJG-4010, a measuring system is conducted to detect the friction torque under different preloads and rotational speeds and the effects of the applied axial load and rotational speed on the COF are analyzed. By the curve fitting method, the Stribeck curve of the ball screw is obtained. The experimental results show that the lubricating state can be divided into two categories: the mixed lubrication state, and the hydrodynamic lubrication state. This study is beneficial to choose a suitable working condition for a different performance of the ball screw.