Fretting tribological behaviors of steel wires under lubricating grease with compound additives of graphene and graphite

Abstract

Fretting damage among steel wires is an important cause for the fatigue fracture of wire rope. In this paper, firstly, the effect of carbon-based additives with different concentrations on the tribological performances of the special grease IRIS-200BB for wire rope was explored through a series of four-ball friction tests. Secondly, the fretting tribological behaviors of steel wires with helical structure under different lubrication conditions were studied by a self-made test rig. Results show that the anti-wear ability of the base grease is enhanced by the addition of multilayer graphene or micron graphite. In addition, micro-cutting on worn surface is obviously reduced when micron graphite and multilayer graphene are added into the base grease. For the convex friction form, the friction reduction and anti-wear performances of the base grease are effectively ameliorated by various additives, while for the concave friction form, tribological characteristics of the compound greases are inferior to that of the base grease.