Optical Interferometric Observations of the Effects of a Bump on Point Contact EHL

1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kaneta ◽  
T. Sakai ◽  
H. Nishikawa

The effects of surface kinematic conditions on micro-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (micro-EHL) are investigated under rolling and/or sliding point contact conditions using the optical interferometry technique. A long bump of chromium sputtered on the surface of a highly polished ball is used as a model asperity. It is shown that the film thickness distribution or the elastic deformation of the bump is influenced significantly by the surface kinematic conditions and the orientation of the bump. An interesting phenomenon is also found when contacting surfaces move with different speeds; the thin film formed on a transversely oriented bump existing at the entrance of the contact travels through the contact region at the average speed of the surfaces. The experimental results obtained qualitatively confirm published numerical simulations.

1982 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cusano ◽  
L. D. Wedeven

The effects of artificially-produced dents and grooves on the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) film thickness profile in a sliding point contact are investigated by means of optical interferometry. The defects, formed on the surface of a highly polished ball, are held stationary at various locations within and in the vicinity of the contact region while the disk is rotating. It is shown that the defects, having a geometry similar to what can be expected in practice, can dramatically change the film thickness which exists when no defects are present in or near the contact. This change in film thickness is mainly a function of the position of the defects in the inlet region, the geometry of the defects, the orientation of the defects in the case of grooves, and the depth of the defect relative to the central film thickness.


2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 412-418
Author(s):  
Li-Ming Chu ◽  
Jaw-Ren Lin ◽  
Jiann-Lin Chen

The effects of surface roughness and surface force on thin film elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TFEHL) circular contact problems are analyzed and discussed under constant load condition. The multi-level multi-integration (MLMI) algorithm and the Gauss-Seidel iterative method are used to simultaneously solve the average Reynolds type equation, surface force equations, the load balance equation, the rheology equations, and the elastic deformation equation. The simulation results reveal that the difference between the TFEHL model and the traditional EHL model increase with decreasing film thickness. The effects of surface forces become significant as the film thickness becomes thinner. The surface forces have obvious effects in the Hertzian contact region. The oscillation phenomena in pressure and film thickness come mainly from the action of solvation forces


Author(s):  
Milan Omasta ◽  
Ivan Krupka ◽  
Martin Hartl

In general contact conditions, the surface velocities are variously oriented, thus the entrainment and sliding velocity act at different directions. The effects of magnitude and direction of the sliding velocity in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) circular contact have been investigated. Film thickness distribution has been obtained using thin-film colorimetric interferometry. It has been found that direction of sliding velocity with respect to entrainment velocity play a role in film thickness distribution, particularly at high slide-to-roll ratios. A superposition of the effects of a pure rolling and of an opposite sliding has been considered. The pure rolling condition creates typical horse-shoe shaped film, whereas under the opposite sliding condition (i.e. zero entrainment velocity) conical depression in the central area of Hertzian contact called “dimple” has been observed.


Author(s):  
R. S. Dwyer-Joyce ◽  
J. Zhang ◽  
B. W. Drinkwater ◽  
J. Elgoyen ◽  
K. J. Kirk

This paper describes a novel design of oil-film monitoring sensor capable of measuring oil-film thickness in concentrated contacts. The approach is to use a thin (approx. 4 μm) sputtered coating of piezoelectric material, such as Aluminium Nitride. When correctly electroded this acts as an ultrasonic sensor with a usable bandwidth from 20–350 MHz. This sensor allows the interrogation of the small lubricated region between the ball and raceway without any special focusing requirements. Typically the dimensions of the contact region is less than a millimeter wide. This sensor system is then demonstrated experimentally on a deep groove ball bearing with the piezoelectric thin film on the external surface of the bearing outer raceway. The interaction of ultrasound with the oil-film is modeled using a quasi-static spring model and this allows properties such as film thickness to be extracted. The measured thicknesses are shown to agree well those obtained from classical elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory for the high bearing loads and low speeds where several data points can be collected from the contact during a ball passage. Measurement of oil film thickness in the region of 0.1–1 μm is demonstrated.


2013 ◽  
Vol 420 ◽  
pp. 30-35
Author(s):  
Khanittha Wongseedakaew ◽  
Jesda Panichakorn

This paper presents the effects of rough surface air-soft elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of rollers for soft material under the effect of air molecular slip. The time independent modified Reynolds equation and elasticity equation were solved numerically using finite different method, Newton-Raphson method and multigrid multilevel methods were used to obtain the film pressure profiles and film thickness in the contact region. The effects of amplitude of surface roughness, modulus of elasticity and air inlet temperature are examined. The simulation results showed surface roughness has effect on film thickness but it little effect to air film pressure. When the amplitude of surface roughness and modulus of elasticity increased, the air film thickness decreased but air film pressure increased. However, the air inlet temperature increased when the air film thickness increased.


Author(s):  
Eduardo de la Guerra Ochoa ◽  
Javier Echávarri Otero ◽  
Enrique Chacón Tanarro ◽  
Benito del Río López

This article presents a thermal resistances-based approach for solving the thermal-elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem in point contact, taking the lubricant rheology into account. The friction coefficient in the contact is estimated, along with the distribution of both film thickness and temperature. A commercial tribometer is used in order to measure the friction coefficient at a ball-on-disc point contact lubricated with a polyalphaolefin base. These data and other experimental results available in the bibliography are compared to those obtained by using the proposed methodology, and thermal effects are analysed. The new approach shows good accuracy for predicting the friction coefficient and requires less computational cost than full thermal-elastohydrodynamic simulations.


Author(s):  
I. I. Kudish ◽  
P. Kumar ◽  
M. M. Khonsary ◽  
S. Bair

The prediction of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) film thickness requires knowledge of the lubricant properties. Today, in many instances, the properties have been obtained from a measurement of the central film thickness in an optical EHL point contact simulator and the assumption of a classical Newtonian film thickness formula. This technique has the practical advantage of using an effective pressure-viscosity coefficient which compensates for shear-thinning. We have shown by a perturbation analysis and by a full EHL numerical solution that the practice of extrapolating from a laboratory scale measurement of film thickness to the film thickness of an operating contact within a real machine may substantially overestimate the film thickness in the real machine if the machine scale is smaller and the lubricant is shear-thinning in the inlet zone.


Author(s):  
Hai-zhou Huang ◽  
Xi-chuan Niu ◽  
Xiao-yang Yuan

To investigate the thermal EHL (elastohydrodynamic lubrication) in point contact transmission, a model considering the two-dimensional surface velocity of tooth face and the running-in is proposed. The numerical solutions for pressure, temperature and film thickness distribution in the contact zone are obtained by solving equations including the Reynolds, Energy and the elastic displacement with variable dimension meshing method. The model was used to study the point contact transmission of the circular arc gear in a windlass. The main results show that it is pure rolling along the direction of tooth width, and the rolling speed plays a leading role in improving the lubricating performance and transmission efficiency of circular arc gear. The squeeze film effect makes the pressure peak tend to be gentle and the film thickness increase slightly.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaohui Zhang ◽  
Jianbin Luo ◽  
Shizhu Wen

In this paper, a viscosity modification model is developed which can be applied to describe the thin film lubrication problems. The viscosity distribution along the direction normal to solid surface is approached by a function proposed in this paper. Based on the formula, lubricating problem of thin film lubrication (TFL) in isothermal and incompressible condition is solved and the outcome is compared to the experimental data. In thin film lubrication, according to the computation outcomes, the lubrication film thickness is much greater than that in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL). When the velocity is adequately low (i.e., film thickness is thin enough), the pressure distribution in the contact area is close to Hertzian distribution in which the second ridge of pressure is not obvious enough. The film shape demonstrates the earlobe-like form in thin film lubrication, which is similar to EHL while the film is comparatively thicker. The transformation relationships between film thickness and loads, velocities or atmosphere viscosity in thin film lubrication differ from those in EHL so that the transition from thin film lubrication to EHL can be clearly seen.


A technique using Newton’s rings for mapping the oil film of lubricated point contacts is described. A theoretical value for the film thickness of such contacts in elastohydrodynamic lubrication is derived. The experimental results give the exit constriction predicted by previous theory but never shown in detail. The comparison of theoretical and experimental oil film thicknesses, which is satisfactorily accurate, gives strong evidence for a viscous surface layer some 1000Å thick. This film agrees with the known ‘lubricating power’ of the various oils tested.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document