Investigation of Oil Additives for Boundary Lubrication of Railroad Journal Bearings

The boundary friction properties of the lubricated system of steel sliding on lead-base babbitt were investigated as a phase of the Association of American Railroads' sponsored project on freight car hot boxes. A friction pendulum was developed for determining the coefficients of boundary friction as a function of temperature with the specified metals lubricated with various lube oil additive blends.

A group of general relationships dealing with additives for the steel-babbitt system was developed. It is concluded that the extreme pressure agents containing sulfur or chlorine are generally unsuited for railroad journal bearing use. Lubricity additives which function by simple physical adsorption were found to be ineffective at moderate or high temperatures existing in railroad operations. Those lubricity additives which chemisorb to metal surfaces and form a close-packed layer were found to be effective antifriction agents.