A Study On the Prediction of Seizure Behavior of Steels with Molecular Film Lubrication at Low Temperature in a Vacuum

Abstract

In order to investigate the seizure mechanism of sliding components, a series of friction tests were carried out by sliding a steel ball against a carbon steel plate lubricated with a LB molecular film in a vacuum of 10−4 to 10−2 Pa at the temperatures from 20K to 300K. The Vickers hardness of materials at 20K was also measured. The results indicate that initial times of seizure are strongly correlated with the low temperature hardness of the materials. There exists a critical value of initial temperature Tc for certain mating materials, below which the materials will not seize. The critical temperature is determined by the mechanical properties of the metals and not by surface lubrication. An empirical qualitative expression is introduced to give the relationship between the initial time of seizure and friction conditions, material properties and surface lubrication. The average temperature of friction surface was estimated by calculation. The calculated results show that the critical temperature for friction surface is near the melting point of mating materials. Presented at the 54th Annual Meeting Las Vegas, Nevada May 23–27, 1999