| Abstract: | Rising fuel costs and the need to conserve fossil fuel have led to increased interest in the role of lubricants in improving fuel economy. Crankshaft bearings can account for up to 40% of engine friction. Lubricant formulations can provide a beneficial reduction in engine friction, thus improving fuel economy. A unique journal bearing test rig has been developed to evaluate lubricants under transient and steady‐state conditions for passenger car engines and heavy duty diesel engines. The rig can measure bearing friction over a wide temperature, speed and load range. The rig uses production components and can be operated so as to produce the bearing pressures, lambda ratio and shear rates experienced by lubricants in fired engines. The properties of a range of lubricants of varying viscometrics, including Newtonian, non‐Newtonian and fully formulated oils have been evaluated. Significant differences due to formulation have been observed. The results of the study have been compared to fuel economy data generated from fired engines with the same lubricants as those tested in the journal bearing rig. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
