Fatigue Life Reduction in Mixed Lubricated Elliptical Contacts

Highly loaded ball and rolling element bearings are often required to operate in the mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication regime in which surface asperity contact occurs simultaneously during the lubrication process. Predicting performance of components operating in this regime is important as the high asperity contact pressures can significantly reduce the fatigue life of the interacting components. Rolling contact fatigue is one of the most dominant causes of failure of components operating in mixed lubrication regime. Contact fatigue begins with the initiation of microscopic fatigue cracks in the rolling contact surfaces or within the sub-surface regions due to cyclic shear stresses. Investigation of mixed lubrication effects on performance of machine components is of significant importance in order to understand and enhance their load carrying capacity. This article investigates the effects of mixed lubrication and surface roughness on machine components performance. Results from a mixed lubrication model are utilized to investigate the effects of different operating conditions on fatigue life of the components. Simple rough surfaces consisting of single hemispherical bump as well as complex rough surfaces consisting of a numerically generated 3D rough surface operating under mixed lubrication conditions are studied and results presented. The stress-based Ioannides and Harris model incorporating the fatigue limit is used to evaluate the fatigue life variation. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique is used to significantly reduce the time required for the computation of internal stresses.     

Definition of the transition from fluid lubrication to mixed lubrication for rough surfaces

Fluid lubrication and mixed lubrication can both be phenomena in the study of the lubrication of rough surfaces. In this paper, we take the surface as random process and, by studying the contact of surfaces which present roughness, we can put forward a method which defines the transition from fluid lubrication to mixed lubrication, by looking for the first contact point between the two surfaces. This study suggests that the transition between fluid and mixed lubrication relates to the number of asperities on the contacting surfaces, an advance on former methods. We also apply this method to piston ring/cylinder lubrication research. The results show that the transition changes with time.     

Integrated wear prediction model for cylindrical gear with variable hyperbolic circular arc tooth trace under mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication

Cylindrical gear with variable hyperbolic circular arc tooth trace (VH-CATT) is a new type of gear. Sliding wear is the main mode of the surface failure of multiple mechanical parts. Both the lubrication state and contact temperature considerably influence wear characteristics, which may aggravate the transmission performance of gear pairs. Wear, contact temperature, as well as lubrication states are jointly explored. Therefore, an integrated wear prediction model was proposed through taking into account flash contact temperature and surface roughness of VH-CATT cylindrical gears in mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication. According to the equivalent ellipse contact model of VH-CATT cylindrical gears and tooth surface equation, normal curvature and velocity relations for VH-CATT cylindrical gears were observed, and the normal meshing force was obtained through the consideration of load sharing coefficients and quality grades. Flash contact temperature was estimated by using the literature. This study proposes analytical solutions for investigating how various surface roughness, operation, and geometric parameters affect asperity contact ratio (ACR), asperity contact pressure (ACP), flash contact temperature (FCT), as well as wear depth (WD) related to driving gears. ACR, ACP, FCT, as well as WD initially decrease and then increase from engaging-in to engaging-out processes. The minimum occurs at the pitch point. The WD declines as module, cutter radius, and rotational velocity increase while augmenting when surface roughness and torques increase. The maximum and minimum wear depths in driving gears occur at the dedendum and pitch point, respectively. Its overall wear is reduced by 23.16 % compared to the wear of spur gears. The results are valuable for the studies of tooth pitting, wear resistance, and fatigue life improvement for VH-CATT cylindrical gear. These studies can provide verification data and references required for engineering designs and VH-CATT cylindrical gear operations.

     

Soft-tribology: Lubrication in a compliant PDMS–PDMS contact

We investigate the influence of surface roughness and hydrophobicity on the lubrication of a soft contact, consisting of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) sphere and a flat PDMS disk. The full Stribeck curves, showing boundary, mixed and elasto-hydrodynamic (EHL) lubrication, are presented for varying surface roughness and hydrophobicity. It is found that neither surface roughness nor hydrophobicity influence the friction coefficient (μ) within the EHL regime. However, increasing surface roughness decreases μ in the boundary regime, while extending the limits of the boundary and mixed lubrication regimes to larger values of the product of velocity and lubricant viscosity (Uη). The transition from the mixed lubrication to EHL regime is found to take place at lower values of the film thickness parameter Λ for increasingly rough surfaces. We found Λ=0.7 in the case of a root mean square (r.m.s.) surface roughness of 3.6 μm, suggesting that the effective surface roughness in a compliant compressed tribological contact is lower than that at ambient pressures. Rendering the PDMS surface hydrophilic promotes full-film lubrication and dramatically lowers μ in the boundary regime by more than an order of magnitude. This influence of surface wetting is also displayed when examining a range of lubricants using hydrophobic tribopairs, where the boundary μ decreases with decreasing lubricant–substrate contact angle. Implications of these measurements are discussed in terms of the creation of model surfaces for biotribological applications.     

Thermal analysis of lubricated three-dimensional contact bodies considering interface roughness

Surface roughness and thermal action are of remarkable importance in the lubrication performance of mechanical components, especially in extreme conditions. However, available studies mainly focus on the full-film lubrication conditions without considering temperature rise and real 3D surface roughness due to the complexity of surface topography and temperature characteristics. Moreover, studies on the interfacial thermal behaviors of 3D rough surface lubricated contact in an extended range of working conditions remain limited. In this paper, a deterministic mixed thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication model considering real 3D surface roughness and thermal effects is proposed. In this model, pressure and temperature are coupled with each other, the computation of elastic deformation is accelerated through the discrete convolution and fast Fourier transform method, the temperature field is calculated with the column sweeping technique, and the semi-system method is introduced to improve convergence and numerical stability under severe conditions. The model is validated by comparing its results with available published numerical and experimental results. The thermal behaviors of the contact interface are studied in a wide range of working conditions. The influences of surface roughness and thermal effect on lubrication performance are revealed. The results show that the proposed model can be used as a powerful analysis tool for lubrication performance and temperature prediction in various heavy-load, high-speed lubricated components over a wide range of lubrication conditions.     

Deterministic mixed lubrication modelling using roughness measurements in gear applications

The presence of surface roughness on the teeth of hardened and ground power transmission gears is an unavoidable consequence of their manufacture. The paper discusses the effect of surface roughness when the elastohydrodynamic lubricant film thickness developed between the gear tooth surfaces is small compared to the heights of the roughness features. The ratio of these quantities, called the Λ value, may be well below unity in typical applications. For such thin film conditions the moving roughness features cause the elastohydrodynamic contact between the gears to be highly transient in nature. Surface roughness features on the working surfaces of the gears move past each other during meshing and these asperity encounters are associated with extreme pressure perturbations, or with film breakdown and isolated asperity boundary lubrication events. The paper reviews approaches used to study this problem and describes a coupled approach to solving the elastic and hydrodynamic equations. This allows numerical solutions to be obtained for these extreme conditions so that transient contact events associated with mixed lubrication can be predicted in a unified numerical solution scheme. Typical results obtained from such an analysis are presented including surface fatigue modelling and contact strain energy calculations.     

Experimental and Numerical Study of Micropitting Initiation in Real Rough Surfaces in a Micro-elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Regime

Micropitting is a form of surface fatigue damage that happens at the surface roughness scale in lubricated contacts in commonly used machine elements, such as gears and bearings. It occurs where the specific film thickness (ratio of smooth surface film thickness to composite surface roughness) is sufficiently low for the contacts to operate in the mixed lubrication regime, where the load is in part carried by direct asperity contacts. Micropitting is currently seen as a greater issue for gear designers than is regular pitting fatigue failure as the latter can be avoided by control of steel cleanliness. This paper describes the results of both theoretical and experimental studies of the onset of micropitting in test disks operated in the mixed lubrication regime. A series of twin disk mixed-lubrication experiments were performed in order to examine the evolution of micropitting damage during repeated cyclic loading of surface roughness asperities as they pass through the contact. Representative measurements of the surfaces used in the experimental work were then evaluated using a numerical model which combines a transient line contact micro-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (micro-EHL) simulation with a calculation of elastic sub-surface stresses. This model generated time-history of stresses within a block of material as it passes through the contact, based on the instantaneous surface contact pressure and traction at each point in the computing mesh at each timestep. This stress time-history was then used within a shear-strain-based fatigue model to calculate the cumulative damage experienced by the surface due to the loading sequence experienced during the experiments. The proposed micro-EHL model results and the experimental study were shown to agree well in terms of predicting the number of loading cycles that are required for the initial micropitting to occur.     

Effect of surface roughness parameters on mixed lubrication characteristics

In this paper, a computer program was developed to generate non-Gaussian surfaces with specified standard deviation, autocorrelation function, skewness and kurtosis, based on digital FIR technique. A thermal model of mixed lubrication in point contacts is proposed, and used to study the roughness effect. The area ratio, load ratio, maximum pressure, maximum surface temperature and average film thickness as a function of skewness and kurtosis are studied at different value of rms. Numerical examples show that skewness and kurtosis have a great effect on the contact parameters of mixed lubrication.     

Effect of surface texturing on rolling contact fatigue within mixed lubricated non-conformal rolling/sliding contacts

The rolling contact fatigue (RCF) life of highly loaded machine components is significantly influenced by the surface roughness features so that there is a continuous effort to design the topography of rubbing surfaces to enhance lubrication efficiency and prolong the operation of machine components. It can be suggested from the recent experimental results that lubricant emitted from shallow micro-dents could effectively lift off the real roughness features and reduce the asperities interactions within rolling/sliding mixed lubricated contacts. Thereby the additional supply of lubricant from surface features could help to reduce the risk of surface damage through the reduction of the interaction of rubbing surfaces during start-up or starvation. However, the introduction of such roughness features into the rubbing surfaces of highly loaded non-conformal contacts should consider not only the effects on lubrication film thickness but also on RCF.That is why this study is focused on the effects of surface texturing on RCF within non-conformal rolling/sliding contacts operated under mixed lubrication conditions. The principal task has been whether possible beneficial effect on film thickness is not accompanied by the reduction in RCF life. Textures with various sizes of micro-dents and their arrangement within the contacts have been considered. It has been found that results obtained with textured surfaces have exhibited no obvious reduction in RCF. Conversely, some increase in RCF using textured surfaces was observed that could be attributed to the positive contribution of micro-dents working as lubricant micro-reservoirs that reduce asperities interactions. Nevertheless, further experiments are necessary to confirm this possible beneficial contribution of surface texturing on RCF.     

Approximate Formula for the Contact between Truncated Surfaces and Frictional Characteristics of a Journal Bearing in Mixed Lubrication

This paper presents an approximate formula for the contact of a non‐Gaussian distribution of truncated surfaces, which is useful for mixed lubrication theory, and gives a method for the determination of the truncation parameters in this formula from a measured roughness profile. Using this approximate formula for a contact, the approximate formula for the friction coefficient of a journal bearing in mixed lubrication, which was previously proposed by the authors, is modified for truncated surfaces, and the frictional characteristics are demonstrated for various parameters of truncated roughness using the modified formula.     

Effect of surface texturing on mixed lubricated non-conformal contacts

The behaviour of surface texturing based on shallow micro-dents was observed within mixed lubricated non-conformal contacts and compared with results obtained under thin film elastohydrodynamic conditions. Thin film colorimetric interferometry was used to observe the changes in lubrication film thickness. It was found that lubricant emitted by micro-dents could effectively lift off the real roughness features that provided an increase in average but also the local minimum film thicknesses. On the contrary to smooth contact conditions no film thickness reduction is obvious either downstream or upstream the micro-dent. The possible beneficial effect of surface texturing on mixed lubricated contact was checked through the qualitative wear test. It confirmed that an array of shallow micro-dents reduced asperity interactions of rubbing surfaces. Moreover, the effect of micro-dents on rolling contact fatigue was also considered in this study. It has been shown that individual dents would have to be much deeper compared to those used in surface texturing experiments to cause reduction in contact fatigue life. It can be suggested from the obtained results that properly designed surface texturing could help to increase the separation of rubbing surfaces under mixed lubrication conditions.     

Effect of real longitudinal surface roughness on lubrication film formation within line elastohydrodynamic contact

In many applications (e.g. roller, barrel or needle bearings) surface features exhibit longitudinal alignment to the direction of motion. These features are produced by surface finishing techniques in the circumferential direction and are associated with line or very wide elliptical contact geometries. In such a case, the contact length in the direction of motion is considerably shorter comparing its width and the effect of a longitudinal roughness could significantly influence the lubrication film formation. Recent experimental studies have indicated less severe effect of a longitudinal roughness on lubrication film formation in the comparisons with that observed with transversely orientated roughness caused by the inlet perturbation. Nevertheless, these experimental studies have been focused on the behaviour of artificially produced asperities within a circular contact. The quantitative experimental study of longitudinal real surface roughness within a line contact has not been realized yet. That is why, in this study, the line contact formed between a steel tapered roller and glass disc is observed within an optical test rig and the effects of real surface roughness on lubrication film formation are studied. Experiments carried out under pure rolling conditions have shown that the depth is the key parameter that influences the effect on the film thickness. If the roughness features are shallow, the lubrication film shape within the contact follows the shape of the surface closely. However, the groove having only about 800 nm in depth divided the line contact into two parts that behave as two separate line contacts. Such an effect can increase the risk of the wear of rubbing surfaces as the lubrication film thickness between the real machine components can be significantly lower than expected.     

双唇Y形拉杆密封的密封性能研究*

建立双唇Y形拉杆封的混合润滑模型,并进行流体力学、接触力学、变形力学分析。利用MatLab软件实现对模型的求解,得到密封区域的流量、膜厚和接触压力分布,并分析不同密封件粗糙度对轴向往复双唇Y形密封圈的摩擦力矩、泄漏量的影响。结果表明:在双唇Y形往复密封中,两唇在密封过程中均处于混合润滑状态,且第一内唇处的膜厚大于第二内唇处;第二内唇静态接触压力近似于对称分布,且第二内唇最大接触压力大于第一内唇最大接触压力,表明第二内唇作为密封的第二道防线可以保证良好的密封效果;密封件粗糙度是影响矩形密封性能的重要因素,随表面粗糙度的增加,直线往复密封的摩擦力和泄漏量增大,存在一个临界粗糙度使泄漏方向改变。     

Influence of different surface modification technologies on friction of conformal tribopair in mixed and boundary lubrication regimes

Moving machine assemblies are generally designed to operate in full film lubrication regime to ensure high efficiency and durability of components. However, it is not always possible to ensure this owing to changes in operating conditions such as load, speed, and temperature. The overall frictional losses in machines are dependent on the operating lubrication regimes (boundary, mixed or full-film). The present work is thus aimed at investigating the role of different surface modification technologies on friction of a sliding bearing/roller tribopair both in boundary and mixed lubrication regimes. A special test rig comprising of two bearings was built for the experimental studies. Tribological tests were conducted in a wide speed range to enable studies in boundary and mixed lubrication regimes. The influence of application of different surface modification technologies on both the sliding bearing and the roller surfaces on friction has been studied. The rollers used in these studies were provided with five different coatings (hard DLCs and a soft self-lubricating coating). Additionally, two uncoated rollers having different surface roughness were also studied. Uncoated bearings were used in all tribopairs except two. These two bearings were coated with DLC and phosphate coatings respectively and uncoated rollers were the mating counterparts. Friction measurements were made on the new as well as the previously run-in surfaces. It was found that the rollers with self-lubricating coating resulted in lowest boundary friction closely followed by the rollers with the hardest DLC coatings. The DLC coating applied on to the bearing showed lower boundary friction after running-in. Mixed friction has been found to be mainly dependent on the surface topography characteristics of both the original and the run-in surfaces of bearings and rollers. The harder DLC coatings and the phosphated bearing showed the lowest mixed friction due to an efficient running-in of the bearing surface.     

Influence of surface roughness and running-in on the lubrication of steel surfaces with oil containing MoS2 nanotubes in all lubrication regimes

Despite several studies that have confirmed the beneficial effect of MoS₂ and WS₂ nanoparticle-assisted lubrication, an understanding of how the nanoparticles behave in different, even very common contact conditions, such as roughness, is still missing. As a result we have focused on a comparison of the lubrication behaviour of MoS₂ nanotubes mixed with PAO oil using steel surfaces with different roughnesses. Moreover, we have investigated the MoS₂-nanotubes-assisted lubrication of steel/steel contacts in all lubrication regimes and also the effect of the running-in of these contacts. It was realized that the friction with the nanotubes-containing oil was 40–65% lower compared to the base oil, depending on the different contact conditions used. Furthermore, we showed that by using MoS₂ nanotubes in the oil the friction is the same for rough and smooth steel surfaces, meaning that the nanotubes completely govern the lubrication behaviour in self-mated steel contacts in the boundary- and mixed-lubrication regimes, irrespective of the surface roughness or the running-in.     

Frictional Characteristics of IF-WS2 Nanoparticles in Simulated Engine Conditions

The efficacy of inorganic fullerene-like (IF) tungsten disulfide (WS₂) nanoparticles as engine oil friction modifier additive was investigated using a high-stroke reciprocating piston ring–cylinder bore bench test system. Frictional characteristics of various IF-WS₂ nanoparticle concentrations in mineral oil were experimentally analyzed in simulated engine conditions controlling oil temperature, speed, and normal load. Though the effect of IF-WS₂ nanoparticles on piston ring and cylinder bore friction was minor in low concentrations, after a running period in a mixed lubrication regime with 10% additive, a considerable reduction in friction coefficient was observed when the IF-WS₂ formulated oil was used. This reduction remains to some extent with reference mineral oil after solvent cleaning of the mating components. The results show that a thin tribofilm gradually forms on the piston ring and the cylinder bore surfaces, reducing the friction coefficient in a mixed lubrication regime. However, in order to obtain the friction reduction there seems to be a threshold in the concentration of IF-WS₂ in mineral oil and film development period. The effects of lubrication regime, contact load, speed, and surface roughness on tribofilm formation are also discussed. The presence of WS₂ tribofilm formed on the piston ring and the cylinder bore surfaces was further verified using Raman spectroscopy.     

表面粗糙度对矩形动密封特性的影响

基于耦合了密封圈的弹性变形、流体动力分析和过盈接触的密封性能数值计算流程,利用Matlab 软件编程实现矩形动密封特性的数值计算,得到矩形密封圈的油膜厚度、泄漏量及摩擦力等密封性能参数,分析表面粗糙度对矩形密封圈的润滑状态和泄漏量的影响。结果表明：往复运动速度一定时,随着密封圈粗糙度的增加,密封偶合面的润滑状态由流体润滑转变为润滑润滑状态,密封的泄漏量也呈几何式增加,说明粗糙度对密封圈的工作寿命和密封性能有较大的影响;往复运动速度也是影响矩形密封圈密封性能的关键工作参数之一,密封压力一定时,随着粗糙度的增加,不发生泄漏的临界速度降低。     

粗糙度各向异性对润滑接触面摩擦的影响

齿轮、轴承、凸轮等重载接触副的性能受表面粗糙度的显著影响。高负载情况下的摩擦因数与润滑接触面粗糙度的各向异性相关。测量的表面粗糙度可以分解为一系列具有不同波长、幅值的正弦表面粗糙度,因此,考虑各向异性正弦表面粗糙度,构建粗糙表面点接触瞬态弹性流体动力润滑(TEHL)模型,提出基于多重网格算法的粗网格构造新方法,提高粗糙表面润滑问题求解的稳健性。研究表面粗糙度各向异性对高负载情况下摩擦因数的影响规律。结果表明,粗糙度的各向异性影响接触面压力、油膜厚度分布、粗糙度形变量,从而影响摩擦因数。提出一个组合函数来量化粗糙度各向异性对摩擦因数的影响,表明全膜润滑到混合润滑的过渡不仅与载荷、速度等工况参数相关,还与粗糙度各向异性相关。     

Water Lubrication of Silicon Nitride in Sliding

Several studies have shown that the coefficient of friction of self-mated silicon nitride in water decreases from an initially high value to about 0.002 after a certain run-in period. Since the worn surfaces become extremely smooth, the low friction is attributed to the initiation of hydrodynamic lubrication by a thin water film at the interface. The possibility of mixed lubrication, i.e., hydrodynamic lubrication by water and boundary lubrication due to the presence of colloidal silica on the wearing surfaces, has also been proposed. The purpose of our study is to investigate the influence of load, speed, and surface roughness on the duration of the run-in period. The results confirmed that a low coefficient of friction is obtained following a run-in period when a wear scar of sufficient size is developed to reduce the contact stress. The run-in period, during which the coefficient of friction is fairly high, was shorter for smoother surfaces and at higher loads and speeds. The low friction behavior was found to be unstable and occasional high friction spikes were observed. The surfaces of the wear tracks and wear scars contained a series of striations parallel to the sliding direction and exhibiting plastic deformation, delamination and fracture. The striations that appeared to be associated with the high friction spikes, could form as a result surface film breakdown. Although these results are consistent with the proposed mechanisms of hydrodynamic lubrication or mixed lubrication, it is proposed that the low friction behavior may be also related to fundamental interactions between two hard and elastically deforming surfaces covered with hydrogen-terminated oxide films.     

考虑粗糙度的船舶水润滑高分子轴承弹流润滑性能研究

为了揭示表面粗糙度对船舶水润滑高分子材料轴承润滑性能的影响规律,开展水润滑轴承弹流混合润滑理论研究;建立考虑内衬材料粗糙度和弹性变形的水润滑轴承混合润滑模型,并对模型进行仿真验证;分析内衬粗糙峰对水膜厚度、水膜压力分布和承载能力的影响规律。研究结果表明：在转速增大的过程中,内衬粗糙度的增大会减缓水膜厚度的增幅比,使轴承需要更高的转速来进入流体动压润滑状态;减小轴承内衬粗糙度能有效降低轴承起飞转速,加快轴承由混合润滑转变为流体动压润滑的过程,减小轴承与轴颈的局部接触,降低轴承异常振动噪声发生的可能性。研究结果揭示了内衬粗糙度变化对轴承润滑特性的影响机制,为水润滑轴承的优化设计提供理论参考。