Enhanced Performance of Pennzane® Greases for Space Applications by Both Additive Formulations and Smooth Hard Coatings

Tribological requirements of the moving mechanical assemblies (MMAs) of spacecraft are usually satisfied by a variety of lubricants and materials. When the lubricant elastohydrodynamic film is broken, metal-to-metal contact occurs in the MMAs. This may lead to lubricant overheating, and breakdown, and then to increased wear and failure. Wear related failure can also occur due to evaporation and/or creep of the lubricant over the lifetime of space assembly. As requirements for spacecraft performance and lifetime increase, improved lubrication systems for MMAs are needed. A considerable amount of progress has been made in developing improved lubricants with advanced additives; however, their performance has not been evaluated and ranked. In the present work, four-ball and reciprocating tribometer tests were conducted to evaluate and rank the performance of various Pennzane® based greases. Employing the reciprocating tribometer technique, Pennzane® based greases were also evaluated with hard coatings such as titanium nitride (TiN) and titanium carbonitride (TiCN) in a metal-on-coating configuration. Viability of a filtered cathodic arc technique for obtaining very smooth, hard coatings is demonstrated. The importance of coating deposition temperature for certain bearing steel materials is also discussed. It is demonstrated that wear is substantially reduced with an optimized Pennzane® grease formulation on a smooth, hard TiCN surface coating.     

In Situ Growth of Graphene on Carbon Fabrics with Enhanced Mechanical and Thermal Properties for Tribological Applications of Carbon Fabric–Phenolic Composites

ABSTRACT

Though the premature failures of wind turbine gearboxes are often attributed to bearing fatigue from overloading, there is compelling evidence that wear from underloading is a significant contributor. Here we attempt to gain insight into the relative contributions of over- and underloading by assessing planet bearing reaction forces from the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC) standard gearbox within a typical utility-scale wind turbine under realistic conditions. The results demonstrate that non-torque load sharing by the planetary stage increases and decreases planet bearing reaction forces at different locations within each rotor cycle regardless of wind speed. Planet bearing reaction forces exceeded the fatigue limit at wind speeds above 12 m/s and fell below the minimum load rating at wind speeds below 7 m/s. Based on analyses of published wind spectra from 10 U.S. sites, the expected fatigue life of the planet bearings ranged from 42 to 529 years even after accounting for non-torque load sharing. At the same 10 sites, planet bearings were underloaded (below 2% of the dynamic load rating) once per rotor cycle 40–70% of the time. Underloaded bearings are susceptible to surface damage when suddenly exposed to common transient events, such as yaw, wind gusts, braking, and grid faults. The resulting surface damage can initiate premature failure via wear (e.g., micropitting) or by reducing bearing fatigue life. The results suggest that carrier bearing clearance, non-torque load sharing, and planet bearing underloading are significant contributors to the premature failures of wind turbine planet bearings.     

Regulation Method for Torque–Angle Characteristics of Rotary Electric–Mechanical Converter Based on Hybrid Air Gap

The torque–angle characteristics of electric–mechanical converters are important determinants of the quality of electrohydraulic proportional control systems. It is far more di cult for a rotary electric–mechanical converter(REMC) to obtain flat torque–angle characteristics than traditional proportional solenoid, greatly influencing the promotion and application of rotary valves for electrohydraulic proportional control systems. A simple and feasible regulation method for the torque–angle characteristics of REMCs based on a hybrid air gap is proposed. The regulation is performed by paralleling an additional axial air gap with the original radial air gap to obtain a flat torque–angle characteristic and increase output torque. For comparison, prototypes of REMCs based on hybrid and radial air gaps were manufactured, and a special test rig was built. The torque–angle characteristics under different excitation currents and step responses were studied by magnetic circuit analysis, finite element simulation, and experimental research. The experimental results were consistent with the theoretical analysis. It was shown that REMCs based on a hybrid air gap can obtain a flat torque–angle characteristic with further optimizing of key structural parameters and also increase output torque. This regulation method provides a new approach for the design of proportional rotary electromechanical converters.     

Influence of Calf Serum on Fretting Behaviors of Ti–6Al–4V and Diamond-Like Carbon Coating for Neck Adapter–Femoral Stem Contact

Influences of newborn calf serum on the fretting behaviors of Ti–6Al–4V and diamond-like carbon coating were investigated using a fretting-wear test rig with a cylinder-on-flat contact. The results indicated that, for the Ti–6Al–4V/Ti–6Al–4V contact, the friction coefficients were high (0.8–1.2) and the wear volumes presented an increase with the increase in the displacement amplitude under dry laboratory air conditions. Under serum-liquid conditions, the Ti–6Al–4V/Ti–6Al–4V contact presented significantly larger wear volumes under the displacement of ±?40 µm; however, it presented significantly lower friction coefficients (0.25–0.35) and significantly smaller wear volumes under the displacement of ±?70 µm. For the DLC coating/Ti–6Al–4V contact, the coating response wear maps could be divided into two areas: the coating working area (low normal force conditions) and the coating failure area (high normal force conditions). In the coating working area, the DLC coating could protect the substrate with low friction, low wear volume, and mild damage in the coating. The presence of serum had a positive influence on the tribological performance of the DLC coating. Furthermore, the positive influence was more significant under larger displacement amplitudes condition.     

Effects of sliding velocity on tribo-oxides and wear behavior of Ti–6Al–4V alloy

Dry sliding wear tests were performed for Ti–6Al–4V alloy on a pin-on-disc wear tester. The wear behavior of Ti–6Al–4V alloy at sliding velocities of 0.5–4 m/s was studied and the tribo-oxides and their function were explored. Ti–6Al–4V alloy presented a marked variation of wear rate as a function of velocity. With the rise and fall of wear rate, Ti–6Al–4V alloy underwent the transitions of wear mechanisms from the combination of delamination wear and oxidative wear at lower speeds to delamination wear at 2.68 m/s, and then to oxidative wear at 4 m/s. These phenomena were attributed to the appearance and disappearance of tribo-oxides. In spite of trace or a small amount, tribo-oxides would change the wear behavior, and even wear mechanism.     

Investigation of the Structure of Surface and Tribological Properties of Composition Coatings Based on Thermosetting Epoxy–Polyester Resins

Composition coatings based on the epoxy–polyester matrix and polydisperse particles of structured carbon have been investigated. The formulation of the mixed compositions has been optimized. The effect of filler particles on structure formation of the surface and tribotechnical characteristics of composition coatings has been shown.     

Effect of Plasma Nitriding Environment and Time on Plain Fatigue and Fretting Fatigue Behavior of Ti–6Al–4V

Plasma nitriding was performed on Ti–6Al–4V fatigue test samples at 520°C in two environments (nitrogen and nitrogen–hydrogen mixture in a ratio of 3:1) for two time periods (4 and 18 h). Plain fatigue and fretting fatigue tests were conducted on unnitrided and plasma nitrided samples. Plasma nitriding degraded lives under both plain fatigue and fretting fatigue loadings. The samples nitrided in nitrogen exhibited superior lives compared with the samples nitrided in the nitrogen–hydrogen mixture, possibly due to the relatively higher hardness (and presumably lower toughness) of the nitrided layer of the samples nitrided in the nitrogen–hydrogen mixture environment. For those samples nitrided in the nitrogen–hydrogen mixture, those nitrided for 18 h exhibited superior lives compared with those nitrided for 4 h. This trend was observed for samples nitrided in nitrogen gas at lower stress levels only; the converse was true at higher stress levels of 550 MPa and 700 MPa under plain fatigue loading. However, under fretting fatigue loading, the plasma nitriding time did not influence the lives significantly.     

Novel Design of Copper–Graphite Self-Lubricating Composites for Reliability Improvement Based on 3D Network Structures of Copper Matrix

This paper proposes a new strategy to design the copper–graphite self-lubricating composites (CGSCs) for dynamic sealing applications. The relationships among structural parameters, mechanical and tribological properties of CGSCs were investigated. Results showed that the composites with a 3D network structure presented superior comprehensive mechanical performance; the bending strength, fracture toughness and impact toughness can reach 352 MPa, 9.6 MPa m^1/2 and 9.2 J cm^?2, respectively, which are 1.4, 1.7 and 5.8 higher than conventional Cu663–graphite composite. This new strategy was based on a combination of the large plastic deformation of the copper 3D network, and considerable crack deflection includes by spherical graphite particles in fracture. Meanwhile, this novel design shows the perfect combination of the mechanical reliability and self-lubricated ability. The 3D-CGSCs exhibit more excellent tribological properties when sliding against AISI 52100 bearing steel under dry condition at room temperature. The friction coefficient and wear rate are stable and with low value under a wide range of loads and reciprocating frequencies, and it possesses good anti-friction capability over a long sliding distance (3 km).     

Using Methods of Analysis of Optical Images of Friction Surfaces of Ti–Al–N Based Coatings for Assessing Accumulation of Damage and Diagnostics of Failure in Tribological Tests

Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing - The processes of damage accumulation and failure in thin ceramic coatings based on the Ti–Al–N system deposited on ductile steel and brittle...     

A Three-Dimensional Navier-Stokes–Based Numerical Model for Squeeze-Film Dampers. Part 1—Effects of Gaseous Cavitation on Pressure Distribution and Damping Coefficients without Consideration of Inertia

Even though most published results detailing damper behavior consider only the liquid phase, the cavitation process in the lubricant film, when it happens, is critical for the damper's performance. A number of modeling approaches, such as the half-Sommerfeld and Elrod models, were proposed in order to account for the effects of cavitation on the pressure generation, without directly simulating the cavitation process. Based on the experimental data, a few other homogeneous cavitation models have also been developed. All these models are based on the classical Reynolds equation. In this article, a three-dimensional numerical model is developed and validated in connection with the operation of a two-phase squeeze-film damper. The full Navier-Stokes equations (NSE), coupled with a homogeneous cavitation model, is solved to simulate the flow of the two-phase lubricant film and the associated pressures. The pressure variation on the journal surface and the gas concentration distribution in the lubricating fluid (cavitated region) will be presented. The damping coefficients predicted by the NSE model are compared to the ones that resulted from the application of the Reynolds equation.     

Study of the intrinsic mechanisms of nickel additive for grain refinement and strength enhancement of laser aided additively manufactured Ti–6Al–4V

It is well-known that grain refiners can tailor the microstructure and enhance the mechanical properties of titanium alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing(AM). However, the intrinsic mechanisms of Ni addition on AM-built Ti–6Al–4V alloy is not well established. This limits its industrial applications. This work systematically investigated the influence of Ni additive on Ti–6Al–4V alloy fabricated by laser aided additive manufacturing(LAAM). The results showed that Ni addition yields three ...     

Fretting wear and fracture behaviors of Cr-doped and non-doped DLC films deposited on Ti–6al–4V alloy by unbalanced magnetron sputtering

Cr-doped and non-doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were deposited on a Ti–6Al–4V alloy substrate using an unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBMS). Fretting wear behavior of the specimens was investigated using a ball-on-disk fretting tester. The fracture phenomenon of the DLC films was determined as the number of fretting cycles to reach a high value of the friction coefficient. The results showed that the Cr-doped and non-doped DLC films exhibited a lower friction coefficient and wear rate compared to that of the uncoated specimen. However, the Cr-doped DLC film fractured only in a few cycles, while the non-doped DLC film fractured after fretting cycles of about 200,000. A fracture mechanism of the Cr-doped and non-doped DLC films was reported in this study.     

Surface roughness prediction for the milling of Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy with the use of statistical and soft computing techniques

This study focuses on Ti–6Al–4V ELI titanium alloy machining by means of plain peripheral down milling process and subsequent modeling of this process, in order to predict surface quality of the workpiece and identify optimal cutting parameters, that lead to minimum surface roughness. For the purpose of accomplishing this task a set of experiments were performed on a CNC milling centre and design of experiments based on Box Behnken Design (BBD) for a three factor and three level central composite design concept was conducted. Depth of cut, cutting speed and feed rate were selected as input parameters and surface roughness was measured after each experiment performed. At first, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed for establishing a quadratic relationship between input and output parameters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then conducted for the evaluation of the proposed formula. RSM was also used for the optimization analysis that followed for the determination of milling cutting parameters for minimum surface roughness. The analysis indicates that the use of BBD can reduce the number of experiments needed for modeling and optimizing the milling operation of Titanium alloys. Furthermore, this method is able to provide models that can reliably be used for any cutting conditions within the limits of the input data. Finally, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) models were developed to allow for a more robust simulation model to be built and comparison between ANN and RSM models to be performed. From the presented results, for RSM, the mean square error and the correlation coefficient were determined to be 8.633 × 10⁻³ and 0.9713, respectively; for ANN models, the corresponding values were 2 × 10⁻³ and 0.9824, for the test group of the optimum model. Simulations indicated that, although input data were too few, a considerably reliable ANN model was able to be built and despite of its complexity compared to RSM model, it was proven to be superior in terms of prediction accuracy.     

Wear and corrosion behavior of electrodeposited nickel–carbon nanotube composite coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy in Hanks′ solution

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have received considerable interest in many industries, but composite coatings of CNTs have not yet been sufficiently developed for use in biomedical implants. This investigation elucidates the wear and corrosion behavior of electroplated Ni/CNT composite coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy in Hanks’ solution. Experimental results indicate that the CNTs in an electroplated Ni/CNT composite coating increase its hardness to 98.5% higher than that of a pure Ni coating. Additionally, an Ni/CNT composite coating can form stable and dense passive film, which significantly improves wear and corrosion in Hanks′ solution.     

Numerous Applications of Fiber Optic Evanescent Wave Fourier Transform Infrared (FEW–FTIR) Spectroscopy for Surface and Subsurface Structural Analysis

A new infrared (IR) interferometric method has been developed in conjunction with low-loss, flexible optical fibers, sensors, and probes. This combination of fiber optical sensors and Fourier Transform (FT) spectrometers can be applied to many fields, including: (i) noninvasive medical diagnostics of cancer and other different diseases in vivo; (ii) minimally invasive bulk diagnostics of tissue; (iii) remote monitoring of tissue, chemical processes, and environment; (iv) surface analysis of polymers and other materials; (v) characterization of the quality of food, pharmacological products, cosmetics, paper, and other wood-related products, as well as (vi) agricultural, forensic, geological, mining, and archeological field measurements. In particular, our nondestructive, fast, compact, portable, remote, and highly sensitive diagnostics tools are very promising for subsurface analysis at the molecular level without sample preparation. For example, this technique is ideal for different types of soft porous foams, rough polymers, and rock surfaces. Such surfaces, as well as living tissue, are difficult to investigate by traditional FTIR methods. We present here FEW–FTIR spectra of polymers, banana and grapefruit peels, and living tissues detected directly at surfaces. In addition, results on the vibrational spectral analysis of normal and pathological skin tissue in the wavenumber region 850–4000cm^–1 are discussed.     

Effects of Surface Roughness and Wood Grain on the Friction Coefficient of Wooden Materials for Wood–Wood Frictional Pair

In order to investigate the effects of the surface roughness and wood grain on the friction coefficient of wooden materials, the friction coefficients of solid wood, medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and particle board (PB) with varying surface roughness were tested by a friction coefficient tester. The friction coefficients of solid wood for a wood–wood frictional pair were measured under varying wood grain (the orientation of fibrils). The results showed that the friction coefficients of the solid wood increased linearly with the arithmetic mean deviation of the surface profile (R_a). The friction coefficients of MDF and PB increased sharply at first and then stabilized with increasing R_a. The friction coefficient of solid wood was respectively maximized and minimized when the grain directions of two wood specimens were both perpendicular to the sliding direction and perpendicular to each other.     

Modeling and analyzing the effects of air-cooled turning on the machinability of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy using the cold air gun coolant system

This study provides the mathematical models for modeling and analyzing the effects of air-cooling on the machinability of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy in the hard turning process. A cold air gun coolant system was used in the experiments and produced a jet of compressed cold air for cooling the cutting process. The air-cooling process seems to be a good environment friendly option for the hard turning. In this experimental investigation, the cutting speed, feed rate and cutting depth were chosen as the numerical factor; the cooling method was regarded as the categorical factor. An experimental plan of a four-factor (three numerical plus one categorical) D-optimal design based on the response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to carry out the experimental study. The mathematical models based on the RSM were proposed for modeling and analyzing the cutting temperature and surface roughness in the hard turning process under the dry cutting process and air-cooling process. Tool wear and chip formation during the cutting process were also studied. The compressed cooling air in the gas form presents better penetration of the lubricant to the cutting zone than any conventional coolants in the cutting process do. Results show that the air-cooling significantly provides lower cutting temperature, reduces the tool wear, and produces the best machined surface. The machinability performance of hard turning Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy on the application of air-cooling is better than the application of dry cutting process. This air-cooling cutting process easily produces the wrinkled and breaking chips. Consequently, the air-cooled cutting process offers the attractive alternative of the dry cutting in the hard turning process.     

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns for Flow and Friction Control on Radial Lip Seal Performance–A Feasibility Study

It has been shown that deterministic microfeatures on the shaft of a radial lip seal impact seal behavior. This work seeks to determine whether it is feasible to control lubricant pumping direction and enhance pump rate with microcavities. The effect of nickel film triangular cavity orientation on seal performance, in particular the flow direction, the pumping rate, and the friction torque, is investigated experimentally. Cavity shape, area fraction, and depth are held constant while cavity orientation is varied. The oil drop test results are compared to those for conventional seals; i.e., plain stainless steel shafts and shafts with an electroplated nickel surface but no micro-cavities. It was found that shafts with surface texture designs can control the pumping direction and increase the sealing capability via enhanced pump rates by up to eight times that of stainless steel shafts. Preferential orientations pumped oil toward the wider end, or base, of the triangular cavities while patterns in neutral, or nonpreferential, orientations were found to reverse pump. The presence of microcavities reduced the friction torque by as much as 51% when pumping and in all cases reduced the operating temperatures. In some cases, the microcavities also reduced the friction torque 8–13% when the seal was operating in a starved condition.     

Study on the spatial filtering and sensitivity characteristic of inserted electrostatic sensors for the measurement of gas–solid two-phase flow parameters

A velocity measuring method using an inserted electrostatic sensor with spatial filtering effects is obtained using the point charge mathematical model established in this paper. Employing the established mathematical model helps determine the spatial filtering and spatial sensitivity characteristics of the probe. The spatial sensitivity distribution is obtained by simulating the point charge mathematical model, and when the point charge is near the probe (a>0), the sensitivity of the probe is higher and the spatial sensitivity of the probe has symmetry. The relation between the probe length L inserted into a pipe and the charge induced on the probe can also be obtained using simulation, where the longer the probe length L is, the larger the signal amplitude is. However, the signal amplitude is almost invariant when the probe length L is larger than the radius of the pipe. Experiments prove that the spatial filtering and sensitivity characteristics of the probe are consistent with the simulation results. When the free fall velocity of particles is the same, the probe has a low-pass characteristic for the measured signals. It is proven that the fluid velocity measurement method using spatial filtering effects can completely measure the fluid velocity using the spatial filtering characteristic experiments of the probe. The spatial filtering measurement velocity method is also feasible when measuring continuous objects.