Frictional behaviour of engineering surfaces in overall lubrication regimes of point contacts

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to study experimentally and numerically the frictional behaviour of engineering surfaces within all lubrication regions of point contacts. For this reason, a numerical solution proposed elsewhere by the current authors, which can predict friction under the different lubrication modes of elastohydrodynamic, mixed, and boundary lubrications, is introduced. Based on a deterministic model of mixed lubrication, the solution was combined with the variation of the lubricating films’ physical state during the transition of lubrication modes. Results show that roughness amplitude has a great effect on the transition of friction regimes. In addition, it is also observed that variation of the friction coefficient has nearly the same trend as the true contact area ratio in the mixed lubrication state. Meanwhile, it is concluded that transverse roughness has better film-forming capacity than longitudinal roughness and thus leads to a lower magnitude of friction coefficient if the operating conditions are the same. Analysis of the mechanism of friction behaviour suggests that the true contact area ratio determines the friction behaviour of engineering surfaces in mixed lubrication. In smooth contacts, the comparison of experiment tests and simulation results suggests that friction variation results from gradual change of the liquid lubricant to solid-like matter with diminishing film thickness.