Study of Boundary Slippage Using Movement of a Post-Impact EHL Dimple Under Conditions of Pure Sliding and Zero Entrainment Velocity

A well-recognized phenomenon of typical traction tests of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contacts is finite maximum traction at increasing speeds, which led to the postulation that the limiting shear stress of liquid lubricants, a high-pressure rheological property, existed. If slippage occurs at the oil–solid boundary, the limiting traction measured is not necessarily an intrinsic property of the lubricant but rather a function of interfacial properties between the bounding solid surface and the lubricant. A recent report presented experimental evidence of boundary slippage at EHL contacts using a simple methodology based on differences in the speed of oil entrapment and the apparent entrainment. The reported experiments were carried out under pure sliding conditions. The phenomenon may also be explained by internal slippage in the bulk fluid film because of the limiting shear stress of the lubricant. To clarify this, similar experiments were repeated under zero entrainment velocity (ZEV) conditions. Evidence of the highly pressurized lubricant at the center of the oil entrapment sliding against the solid bounding surface was obtained. The purpose of this article is to discuss whether the slippage is attributed to the limiting shear stress of the oil or the critical shear stress of the oil/solid interfaces, and how to differentiate the magnitudes of the critical shear stress of the two bounding surfaces in a conventional optical EHL test rig.     

Stress Analysis on Layered Materials in Point Elastohydrodynamic-Lubricated Contacts

For multilayered or coated substrates in elastohydrodynamic-lubricated (EHL) contacts, the subsurface stress distributions under a normal load combined with shear traction have been analyzed in this article through computer simulations. The Papkovich-Neuber potentials and Fourier transform are adopted to deduce the pressure–displacement, pressure–stress, and shear traction–stress response functions in frequency domain for the coated substrates, and to calculate distributions of pressure and subsurface stress. The results from the analysis of EHL contacts on coated substrates are compared with those from dry contact model in which shear traction is assumed to obey Coulomb’s law. Effects of the Young’s modulus of coatings, the properties of lubricants, and the magnitude of traction are discussed. Similar to the results in dry contacts, hard coatings in lubricated cases tend to increase the von Mises stress, whereas soft coatings decrease the stress. Shear traction makes the max von Mises stress increasing and moving closer to surface. However, the changes in subsurface stress due to shear traction are less obvious in lubricated contacts. Comparison between EHL and dry contact models reveals that lubrication can reduce the von Mises stress in the coating layer due to smaller shear traction. The analyses show that pressure, film thickness, and subsurface stress distributions are influenced by surface coatings, sliding velocity, rheological models, and pressure–viscosity behaviors.     

Evidence of lubricant slip on steel surface in EHL contact

The limiting traction provided by typical elastohydrodynamically lubricated (EHL) contacts leads to the postulation that liquid lubricants are subject to limiting shear stress, which is generally accepted as an intrinsic property of the lubricants. The results of recent optical EHL research show that lubricant at EHL contacts may slip on the Cr-coated glass surface under certain circumstances. This paper presents further evidence that high pressure EHL film can slip on a steel surface. Because the steel/steel contacts are common in typical traction drives and the interfaces are therefore oil/steel, the deduction of the limiting shear stress of lubricants from the measured limiting traction may simply reflect a property of the system should boundary slippage occur.     

Experimental observation of a dimple-wedge elastohydrodynamic lubricating film

One of the main features of typical elastohydrodynamic lubricating (EHL) contacts is the unique horseshoe film shape, which can be readily observed by using interferometry and quite accurately modelled by the well-established EHL theory. However, an anomalous EHL film, characterized by a wedge shape together with a tiny dimple at the inlet region, is observed under pure sliding conditions with ultra slow speeds of 3–800 μm/s in an optical EHL test rig. The variations of the wedge and the inlet dimple with different sliding speeds and loads are investigated using a series of polybutene oils of high viscosities. It is found that the inclination of the wedge is dependent on sliding speeds, loads and oil viscosities. The dimple always occurs at the inlet. The appearance of an inlet dimple together with a wedge film shape is reported for the first time. The phenomenon can be attributed to a non-Newtonian characteristic of the lubricant: the limiting shear strength. Additionally, the influence of starvation on the film shape is also examined.     

Sixty years of EHL

It is now 60 years since Ertel produced the first solution to the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) problem. There has been enormous progress since then, both in numerical modelling and in experimental research on EHL. The moving, rough surface EHL problem can now be solved on laptop‐level computers, while maps of film thickness, pressure and temperature can be obtained experimentally from within rolling/sliding contacts. However, there remain some important questions that have not been fully resolved. One of the most contentious is how to describe the rheological properties of lubricants under the very severe conditions present in thin film EHL contacts. A second is how to model mixed lubricated contact, where the fluid film can break down at asperity conjunctions. But perhaps the greatest challenge to researchers in EHL is to produce useful design equations for predicting the performance of machine components operating in EHL and thereby ensure that EHL theory becomes an integral part of the design process. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

三维非牛顿体椭圆接触弹流润滑应力分布及其图示

对机械系统中常见滚滑点接触摩擦润滑问题进行了三维弹性润滑的数值模拟分析,在分析了弹流中的各种流变模型之后,提出了粘塑性四次方型本构关系式。对弹流润滑中热效应和润滑剂的非牛顿体效应的耦合作用进行了分析,得到提示润滑接触区内牵引力机理的三维切应力分布。由数值模拟研究了对疲劳分析有意义的接触体表层内应力场,得到了椭圆接触三维Mises应力分布。     

Thermal transient rough EHL line contact simulations by aid of computational fluid dynamics

Reynolds equation is the pre-dominantly used PDE for modelling the fluid flow or more accurately the fluid pressure in an elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contact. The equation is derived by combining the two conservation equations of momentum and continuity into a single equation for the fluid pressure. The numerical approach for theoretical investigations performed on EHL contacts in this work is somewhat different. The modelling of the fluid flow is based on a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique. The fluid flow is simulated by aid of the equations of momentum and continuity in a more complete form and when the thermodynamics is incorporated, the equation of energy. The aim of the investigation was to examine whether the CFD technique could be used to handle thermal transient rough EHL line contacts. It is shown that commercial CFD software can be modified to meet such requirements. The influence of thermal effects on the flow under sliding motion was investigated. The non-Newtonian model used in this work is the Ree-Eyring model. It is shown that the choice of the Eyring stress in the model influences flow in the contacts. If the thermal properties of the surrounding solids differ, it has been shown experimentally and theoretically that a dimple or increased central film thickness may appear in the EHL contacts. This work shows that the governing mechanisms that result in the dimple are also present in thermal transient rough EHL line contacts.     

Effect of transverse surface roughness and additives in TEHD contacts

Surface roughness effects in mixed rheological thermal EHL of rolling/sliding line contacts are investigated numerically. The surface roughness is assumed to be transverse and its profile is generated by a sinusoidal function defined in terms of its amplitude and wavelength. A homogeneous mixture of Newtonian base oil and power law fluid additive with varying volume fraction, viscosity ratio and power law index is used to represent polymer-modified oils. The velocity profile for the mixed rheological fluid model is obtained using perturbation method to derive Reynolds and mean temperature equations. It is found that the surface roughness effects on EHL characteristics are significantly modified due to the presence of polymeric fluid additives.     

Multilevel solution for thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication of rolling/sliding circular contacts

A fast multigrid approach is presented for the analysis of thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) under rolling/sliding circular contacts at high loads and high slip ratios with low computing time on a personal computer. This fast solver combines directiteration, multigrid, Newton-Raphson, Gauss-Seidel iteration, and multilevel multi-integration methods into one working environment that can reduce the computational complexity from O(n³ to O(nlnn) for the thermal EHL problem under rolling/sliding circular contacts. Since the couped Reynolds and energy equations are simultaneously solved by the Newton-Raphson scheme, the iteration for the convergence solution is less than those of the classical approach. Results show that thermal effects on the pressure profile and film thickness are significant for a wide range of loads, speeds and slip ratios. The maximum midfilm and surface temperature rise in the Hertzian contact region increases with increasing slip ratio, dimensionless speed, and load. The minimum film thickness decreases with increasing load and slip ratio, and decreasing dimensionless speed.     

Thermal point contact EHL analysis of rolling/sliding contacts with experimental comparison showing anomalous film shapes

The paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation of non-conformal lubricated contacts in which anomalous film shapes occur. The experiments were concerned with the contact between a steel ball and the plane surface of a glass disc at various slide-roll ratios. A paraffin base mineral oil was used as a lubricant and friction coefficients and film thicknesses were measured. It was found that for slide-roll ratios with the disk moving faster anomalous elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) films were obtained characterized by a “dimple” in the central region of the contact. Numerical thermal-elastohydrodynamic analyses were carried out to simulate both film thickness and friction corresponding to the experimental conditions using Newtonian and Ree-Eyring rheological models. Initial results from this study suggest that neither of these lubricant models predict the correct detailed film shape and the experimental friction at the same time. An alternative lubricant model including both thermal and limiting shear stress effects (wall slippage) is currently under development.     

Occurrence of Wall Slip in Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Contacts

Preliminary experimental work has been carried out to identify some of the boundary slip phenomena of highly pressurised polybutenes in an elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) conjunction. The movement of the oil is signified using an entrapment that can be readily formed by the impact of a steel ball against a layer of oil on a glass block in an optical EHL test apparatus. The post-impact lateral movement of the entrapment was investigated under the conditions: (i) pure rolling, (ii) pure glass block sliding (steel ball stationary) and (iii) pure ball sliding (glass block stationary). It was observed that under pure rolling the entrapped oil travels within the contact region at the entrainment speed, which is correlated with EHL theory. Under pure glass block sliding conditions, the speed of the entrapped oil core is less than the entrainment speed, and in the extreme cases, this core can be nearly stationary. Under pure ball sliding conditions, the oil core moves at a speed greater than the entrainment speed. The observation indicates that the oil/steel ball interface can sustain higher shear stress than the oil/glass (chromium coated) interface and there is a boundary slip in terms of relative sliding at the latter interface under the experimental conditions. Furthermore, the amount of slip increases with an increase in the pressure. These experiments provide evidence of the existence of wall slippage, which leads to the abnormal EHL film profile characterised with an inlet dimple as reported earlier.     

On the shear stress of elastohydrodynamic lubrication in elliptical contacts

Results of mathematical modelling of elastohydrodynamic lubrication of rolling contacts are presented. Effects of dimensionless parameters such as speed, normal load, elliptical parameters and coefficient of limiting shear stress on shear stress distributions have been studied. Moreover, profiles on hydrodynamic pressure and film thickness in EHD contacts have been studied. It has been found that shear stress profiles on two contact surfaces in entraining direction are similar with each other in some way. Shear stresses of fluid film on contact surfaces vary with many factors, which reveals the mechanism of traction in elastohydrodynamically lubricated contacts.     

零卷吸预跑合对一类反常弹流油膜的影响

在极低速纯滑动的光弹流实验中,采用高粘度聚丁烯润滑剂形成的弹流油膜会在入口区出现凹陷,该反常的入口凹陷与极限剪切应力/界面滑移有关。针对盘纯滑和球纯滑2种不同的运动条件进行了油膜形状的测量,分析了零卷吸预跑合对油膜形状的影响。结果表明,一般地,纯玻璃盘滑动和纯钢球滑动产生的此类反常的油膜形状并不相同;当对弹流接触副采用零卷吸预跑合处理(即钢球和玻璃盘在接触区以大小相同方向相反的速度运动)之后,纯玻璃盘滑动形成的油膜形状有较大变化,油膜厚度增加,入口的楔形斜度下降,此时纯玻璃盘滑动和纯钢球滑动产生的油膜形状差别减小,甚至相同。     

极限剪切状态下的线接触Reynolds方程

本文导出了考虑极限剪切状态的线接触流变热弹流Reynolds方程,该方程以Evans—Johnson流变模型为基础,可用于求解线接触流变热弹流润滑问题的油膜厚度、压力分布、剪应力分布和牵曳系数曲线。计算实例表明,润滑油的流变特性对弹流润滑的油膜形状和压力分布影响不大,但对Hertz接触区的剪应力分布有显著影响。     

Effect of Slide-to-Roll Ratio on Interior Stresses Around a Dent in EHL Contacts

The present, study extends the transient EHL point contact model and subsurface stress field calculation model to examine the influence of a surface dent on interior stresses in an EHL point contact under various slide-to-roll conditions. Results revealed that under the pure rolling condition the effect of a surface dent on the stresses is quite negligible. The presence of a shallow surface dent is unlikely to reduce the contact fatigue, life so long as pure rolling motion and good lubrication conditions are maintained. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the contact if it is operating in the boundary lubrication regime.

When sliding was introduced, the surface indentation generated significantly high pressure spikes with a strong directional preference. These high-pressure spikes cause severe stress concentrations either below the trailing edge of the dent, if it moves faster than the opposing surface, or below the leading edge of the dent, if it moves slower than the opposing surface. The maximum von Mises stress moved close to the surface and significantly increased in value as compared to the smooth surface solution. For the case of simple sliding, the maximum von Mises stress is even greater than the value calculated for the boundary lubrication case.

In regard to maximum tensile principle stresses, the presence of a dent increased the stresses only marginally over the smooth surface solutions. It is unlikely that surface indentation would significantly reduce the contact fatigue life due to Mode 1-type crack initiation.     

A non-averaging method of determining the rheological properties of traction fluids

Traction machines have been frequently used to study the rheological responses of lubricants in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contacts. Fundamental properties are inferred from EHL traction measurements based on the average pressures and temperatures in the contact. This average approach leads to uncertainty in the accuracy of the results due to the highly nonlinear resonse of the fluid such as viscosity to both pressure and temperature. A non-averaging method is developed in this paper to study the elastic and plastic properties of traction fluids operating in EHL contacts at small slide-to-roll ratios. A precision line-contact traction rig is used to measure the EHL traction at a given oil temperature and Hertz pressure. By choosing a sensible pressure-property expression, the parameters of the expression can be determined through the initial slope and peak traction coefficient of the traction measurements. The elastic shear modulus and the limiting shear stress of the lubricant corresponding to a single pressure can then be calculated for a range of pressures and temperatures of practical interest. Two high-traction fluids are studied, and their elastic moduli and limiting shear stresses presented.     

A simple non-linear constitutive equation for elastohydrodynamic oil films

In this paper a hypothetical constitutive relation for EHL oil films is proposed which combines a linear elastic response with a non-linear shear thinning viscous response. This model reduces to a linear Maxwell fluid for small strains. It is shown that provided the recoverable elastic strains are kept small (<0.3), which is generally the case for EHL contacts, the ambiguity of stress rate usually encountered with large total strains in viscoelasticity can be avoided. Hence this proposed constitutive law provides a simple Theologically acceptable basis for interpreting large strain EHD traction experiments.     

On the thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication in opposite sliding circular contacts

Cases of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) point contacts running under opposite sliding conditions have been studied with consideration of the thermal effect for various loads and entrainment velocities. A thermal EHL solver has been developed and proven to be able to deal even with extreme cases under an infinite slide–roll ratio. Results show that film profiles featuring a dimple can be formed in the contact zone when the slide–roll ratio exceeds a certain level. Moreover, the present study provides theoretical evidence for the lubricating film build up in the case where the two bounding surfaces run with equal but opposite velocities. An effective lubricating film under zero entrainment speeds was experimentally proven by Dyson and Wilson [1] (Proc Instn Mech Engrs, 1968–1969 183(3P) 81) in the 1960's, which, however, cannot be explained by the isothermal EHL theory.     

EHL Performance of the Lubricant With Shear Strength: Part I — Boundary Slippage and Film Failure

This paper analytically investigates the isothermal line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication of three lubricants with much different shear strengths under the nondimensional operating parameters of w = 2.15e-4 and U = 2.53e-10 applying the lubricant ideal viscoplastic rheological model. The boundary slippage of the low-shear-strength lubricant occurring in the EHL inlet zone was found and results in a much thinner film compared to the classical EHL theory prediction. The film boundary slippage and its growth with the slide/roll ratio variation of tile low-shear\- strength lubricant exhibit special phenomena, which are much different from those of the high-shear-strength lubricant. The easy occurrence of film failure in concentrated contact in the case of high sliding speed, heavy load, large slide/roll ratio, and low-shear-strength lubricant was concluded due to the severe friction heating on the surface conjunction and the lubricant thermal desorption on tile lubricant/surface boundary. The EHL film failure mechanism was further recognized.     

Deterministic solutions and thermal analysis for mixed lubrication in point contacts

A deterministic numerical model has been developed for simulation of mixed lubrication in point contacts. The nominal contact area between rough surfaces can be divided into two parts: the regions for hydrodynamic lubrication and asperity contacts (boundary lubrication). In the area where the film thickness approaches zero the Reynolds equation can be modified into a reduced form and the normal pressure in the region of asperity contacts can be thus determined. As a result, a deterministic numerical solution for the mixed lubrication can be obtained through a unite system of equations and the same numerical scheme. In thermal analysis, the solution for a moving point heat source has been integrated numerically to get surface temperature, provided that shear stresses in both regions of hydrodynamic lubrication and asperity contacts have been predetermined. A rheology model based on the limit shear stress of lubricant is proposed while calculating the shear stress, which gives a smooth transition of friction forces between the hydrodynamic and contact regions. The computations prove the model to be a powerful tool to provide deterministic solutions for mixed lubrication over a wide range of film thickness, from full-film to the lubrication with very low lambda ratio, even down to the region where the asperity contact dominates.