scholarly journals Grease Lubrication: Formulation Effects on Tribological Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Cousseau

Grease lubrication performance prediction is challenging. Only recently that empirical equations to predict grease film thickness for prevailing rolling conditions under fully flooded lubrication taking into account thickener properties and content for low, moderate, and high speeds were developed. At starved lubrication, although new insights about the supply and loss mechanisms that govern film formation have been published, contact replenishment and, consequently, film thickness predictions for long-term operation are still not available. Prediction of components efficiency requires film thickness values and properties, including film’s molecular structure, which makes it even more challenging. When it comes to prevailing sliding conditions, the literature is scarce and most of the knowledge developed for prevailing rolling conditions is not applicable. During the sliding of the contacting bodies, boundary and mixed lubrication regimes are expected. In this situation, the tribological response is primarily defined by grease thickener and additives physicochemical interaction with the surface. This complexity leads many researchers to seek simpler relationships between grease formulation and properties with its performance. This review aims to present the state-of-art on grease lubrication and update some of these relationships.

Author(s):  
Caichao Zhu ◽  
Zhangdong Sun ◽  
Huaiju Liu ◽  
Chaosheng Song ◽  
Zufeng Li ◽  
...  

The lubrication performances of cycloid drives affect the dynamic characteristics, the mechanical efficiency and the contact fatigue behavior of the system. To maintain tranmission precision it is required to minimum the times of disassebly, hence grease lubrication is often applied where starvation might occur in service. Starved lubrication performance of a cycloid gear drive is studied using a numerical finte line starved-elastohydrodynamic lubrication model. The parameter of the inlet oil film thickness is chosen to represent the starved status. Effects of the inlet film thickness on the centralfilm thickness, the friction coefficient and the frictional power loss are investigated. In addition, effects of different shape of inlet oil-supply layer in the same starved degree on lubrication performance are studied. Under the same inlet oil supply volume, the convex type profile would present a better oil film within the nominal contact zone compared with other four different shapes of the inlet film supply.


1992 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Aramaki ◽  
H. S. Cheng ◽  
D. Zhu

The lubrication performance of rib/roller end contacts of cylindrical roller bearings was studied both theoretically and experimentally for end-crowned rollers and inclined ribs. A partial EHL program was used to calculate the film thickness and the friction in the rib/roller end contact. Calculated minimum film thickness shows a strong load dependence although the central film thickness is still a weak function of the load. The influence of the contact position on the film thickness was also investigated for roller skewness and design tolerance. It was found that the contact location affects the minimum film thickness strongly in spite of a weak influence on the central film thickness. Friction and scuffing experiments were conducted on a special rig, which can achieve arbitrary slide/roll ratio to simulate the rib/roller end contacts. Good agreements were found between measured and calculated friction based on the assumption that the lubricant was Newtonian. In scuffing experiments, scuffing propagation was observed on the rib contact surface. The critical load for scuffing is strongly correlated with the sliding velocity. The critical load at high speeds is lower than that at low speeds although the friction at high speeds is lower. These data imply the importance of the contact location and the wear process for film breakdown.


Friction ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-190
Author(s):  
Xinming Li ◽  
Feng Guo ◽  
Gerhard Poll ◽  
Yang Fei ◽  
Ping Yang

Abstract Although most rolling element bearings are grease lubricated, the underlying mechanisms of grease lubrication has not been fully explored. This study investigates grease film evolution with glass disc revolutions in rolling elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contacts. The evolution patterns of the grease films were highly related to the speed ranges and grease structures. The transference of thickener lumps, film thickness decay induced by starvation, and residual layer were recognized. The formation of an equilibrium film determined by the balance of lubricant loss and replenishment was analyzed. The primary mechanisms that dominate grease film formation in different lubricated contacts were clarified.


Lubricants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Fischer ◽  
Helko Mues ◽  
Georg Jacobs ◽  
Andreas Stratmann

The service life of rolling bearings is significantly affected by the lubricating film formation in elastohydrodynamic (EHD) contacts. Grease lubricated EHD contacts show a film thickness decay from a characteristic rotational speed, which is referred to as starvation. Thus, the film thickness of grease lubricated contacts differs from that of oil lubricated contacts. However, the base oil properties under fully flooded conditions are commonly assumed to estimate the operating lifetime of grease lubricated bearings, which are usually not fully flooded. Hence, this assumption results in an overestimation of the film thickness for rotational speeds in the range of starvation, which can lead to uncertainties in the bearing design. At high rotational speeds, i.e., high over rolling frequencies, starvation is likely to occur, due to insufficient lubricant supply by replenishment behind the rolling element. Therefore, the focus of this contribution is to investigate the effect of over rolling frequency, and thus replenishment time, on the lubricating film formation in starved, grease lubricated EHD contacts. The film thickness measurements were performed on a ball-on-disc tribometer, which was extended by adding a second ball specimen in front of the measuring ball. By varying the angular distance between the two contacts, the lubricant displacement can be controlled, such that the effect of replenishment time on the film formation can be determined. These investigations should help to establish an advanced understanding of the mechanisms of grease lubrication, and encourage future work with a focus on developing a method to predict the film formation in grease lubricated EHD contacts.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (21) ◽  
pp. 65-73
Author(s):  
Monika Gwoździk

The paper presents results of studies on the crystallite sizes of oxide layer formed during a long-term operation on 10CrMo9-10 steel at an elevated temperature (T = 545° C, t = 200,000 h). This value was determined by a method based on analysis of the diffraction line profile, according to a Scherrer formula. The oxide layer was studied on a surface and a cross-section at the outer and inner site on the pipe outlet, at the fire and counter-fire wall of the tube. X-ray studies were carried out on the surface of a tube, then the layer’s surface was polished and the diffraction measurements repeated to reveal differences in the originated oxides layer.


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