Influence of the rheological behaviour of the lubricant on the appearance of pitting in elastohydrodynamic regime

This paper analyses the influence of lubricant behaviour on the appearance of pitting. It attempts to study the effect of viscosity–pressure relation, compressibility, film thickness–roughness relation and friction coefficient on pitting failure of the contacting elements. To explain these effects, we first deal with the influence of the oil on the lubrication of the contact using elastohydrodynamic theory and secondly two multiaxial fatigue criteria are used, Crossland criterion and Dang Van criterion, to evaluate the influence of the rheology on the appearance of pitting. Finally, different applications are presented together with a discussion on the results obtained.