Elastohydrodynamic Friction Research Articles

Influence of water evaporation on elastohydrodynamic lubrication with water-containing polyalkylene glycols

The reduction of frictional power losses in power transmitting gears takes a crucial role in the design of energy- and resource-efficient drivetrains. Water-containing lubricants like glycerol and polyalkylene glycols have shown great potential in achieving friction within the superlubricity regime with coefficients of friction lower than 0.01 under elastohydrodynamic lubrication. Additionally, a bio-based production of the base stocks can lead to the development of green lubricants. However, one challenge associated with the application of water-containing lubricants to gearboxes is the evaporation of water and its impact on the lubricant properties. In this study, the influence of water evaporation on elastohydrodynamic friction and film thickness was investigated for three water-containing polyalkylene glycols. Two nominal water contents of 20 wt% and 40 wt% and two viscosities were considered. The results show that the friction increases continuously with higher evaporated water content, while the overall friction level remains low in nearly water-free states. A similar trend is observed for film thickness, where the strong increase in viscosity results in a notable increase in film thickness. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of friction and film thickness to water evaporation is low for small amounts of evaporated water. This allows generous thresholds for permissible variations in water content.

Influence of water content on elastohydrodynamic friction and film thickness of water-containing polyalkylene glycols

Lubricants with a functional water portion have demonstrated a drastic reduction in friction under elastohydrodynamic lubrication conditions. With water-containing polyalkylene glycols, superlubricity with coefficients of friction <0.01 have been measured in model and gear contacts. In addition to the low friction, their calorimetric properties make them particularly interesting for application in electrified vehicles because the liquid can simultaneously serve as lubricant for the gearbox and coolant for the electric motors and the power electronics. In this study, the influence of water content between 8 wt% and 40 wt% of water-soluble polyalkylene glycols on friction and film thickness in elastohydrodynamically lubricated rolling-sliding contacts such as in gears and bearings is investigated. A polyalphaolefine oil is used as a reference. Friction has been measured on a ball-on-disk tribometer and film thickness on an optical tribometer. For a water content of 40 wt%, superlubricity with coefficients of friction down to 0.004 are found. The decrease in friction is up to 95% compared to the polyalphaolefine reference. The measured film thickness decreases with increasing water content. For a water content of 8 wt%, the film thickness is similar to that of the polyalphaolefine reference while at the same time friction is still reduced by 81%. Depending on the friction and film thickness requirements of a specific tribosystem, the water content of a water-containing polyalkylene glycol can be chosen accordingly.

Elasto-hydrodynamic friction changes on steel surfaces arising from the modified surface energy of the steel due to additive boundary films

The effect of three different film-forming additives mixed in PAO oil on the elasto-hydrodynamic (EHD) friction was investigated and compared to cases with the base oil only. When the boundary films were formed on the surfaces, the organic friction modifier (OFM) decreased the EHL friction by up to 8.7%, the ionic liquid (IL) decreased it by up to 6.4%, while the polymeric organic friction modifier (pOFM) increased it by up to 4.2%. In contrast, if the boundary films were not formed, the EHL friction remained the same as with the base oils only. The oils’ surface tension and viscosity were analysed at 25 °C and 100 °C as potential influencing effects, and the most important parameter for friction changes was found to be the surface energy. The mechanism behind this EHL friction reduction is, therefore, the effect of the boundary films on the poor oil-surface wetting and the consequent boundary slip. This study confirms the poor wetting arising from additive boundary-film formation as a relevant EHL friction-reduction mechanism. This observation is similar to that observed previously for surface coatings, thus suggesting that the boundary films of the surface-energy-reducing additives is a parameter with the potential to reduce the EHL friction.

Finite Element Analysis of Elasto-Hydrodynamic Friction: Taking into Account the Deformations of Sliding Bearing Parts

Finite Element Analysis of Elasto-Hydrodynamic Friction: Taking into Account the Deformations of Sliding Bearing Parts

Elastohydrodynamic friction of robotic and human fingers on soft micropatterned substrates.

Frictional sliding between patterned surfaces is of fundamental and practical importance in the haptic engineering of soft materials. In emerging applications such as remote surgery and soft robotics, thin fluid films between solid surfaces lead to a multiphysics coupling between solid deformation and fluid dissipation. Here, we report a scaling law that governs the peak friction values of elastohydrodynamic lubrication on patterned surfaces. These peaks, absent in smooth tribopairs, arise due to a separation of length scales in the lubricant flow. The framework is generated by varying the geometry, elasticity and fluid properties of soft tribopairs and measuring the lubricated friction with a triborheometer. The model correctly predicts the elastohydrodynamic lubrication friction of a bioinspired robotic fingertip and human fingers. Its broad applicability can inform the future design of robotic hands or grippers in realistic conditions, and open up new ways of encoding friction into haptic signals.

Bending of Soft Micropatterns in Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Tribology

Soft tribology is increasingly important in the design and engineering of materials used in robotics, haptics, and biomechanics studies. When patterned surfaces are part of a lubricated tribopair that undergoes sliding and compressive deformation, the patterns experience a bending strain that affects the lubrication film thickness and elastohydrodynamic friction. The contribution of bending patterns to soft tribology is not well understood because earlier studies focused on hard tribopairs with effectively flat surfaces. We investigate and model the differences in lubricated friction for poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) elastomer and PEGDA/alginate double network hydrogel patterns in order to determine the effect of height-to-width aspect ratio and bending angle on the elastohydrodynamic friction. Photoresists of two different viscosities are spin coated onto silicon substrates to fabricate molds with pattern heights ranging from 20 μm to 50 μm. Tribological characterization of the tribopairs in the elastohydrodynamic lubrication regime shows that the patterns generate a friction peak that is independent of aspect ratio for short patterns but displays a “power-law fit” decrease with increasing aspect ratio for taller patterns. Two independent models are used to estimate the theoretical bending and deflection angles for the tribopairs. The decrease in lubricated friction is attributed to taller patterns having large bending angles and a reduced effective surface for fluid load bearing. Results suggest that the bending of micropatterns could be harnessed to engineer lubricated friction in a variety of applications.

New strategy for reducing the EHL friction in steel contacts using additive-formed oleophobic boundary films

In this study we present a mechanism for the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) friction reduction in steel/steel contacts, which occurs due to the formation of oleophobic surface boundary layers from common boundary-lubrication additives. Several simple organic additives (amine, alcohol, amide, and fatty acid) with different molecular structures were employed as the model additives. It was found that the stronger chemisorption at 100 °C, rather than the physisorption at 25 °C, is more effective in friction reduction, which reaches 22%. What is more, EHD friction reduction was obtained in steel/steel contacts without use of the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings with their wetting or thermal effect, which was previously suggested as possible EHD friction reduction mechanism; yet about the same friction reduction of about 20% was obtained here—but with much simpler and less expensive technology, namely with the adsorbed oleophobic surface layers. A small variation in the additive’s molecular structure results in significant changes to the friction, indicating good potential in future EHD lubrication technology, where these additives could be designed and well optimised for notable reduction of the friction losses in the EHD regime.

Friction Characteristics and Mechanisms of Two Lithium Greases in Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication

Two types of lithium greases were fabricated by using PAO and polyol ester as two base oils. The friction tests for the lithium soap-based greases were performed under different operating conditions by mini-traction machine, and the data were compared and analysed. The results show that when the lithium-based soap thickens different types of base oils with the same viscosity, the greater the elastohydrodynamic friction coefficient of the base oil, the greater the elastohydrodynamic friction coefficient of the grease. In a low-speed bearing or contact pair, both base oil and thickener go through the contact zone to contribute to the friction of the grease. When the same lithium-based thickener thickens the different base oils, the greater the interactions between the base oil molecules, the greater the interactions between the base oil molecules and the thickener molecules, the wider the soap fibres, and the greater the friction coefficient of the grease. The friction coefficient of oil PAO–lithium-based soap grease is higher than that of its base oil PAO. The friction coefficient of oil polyol ester–lithium-based soap grease is less than that of its base oil polyol ester when the viscosities of the two base oils are 68 mm2/s.

Correlation of Elastohydrodynamic Friction with Molecular Structure of Highly Refined Hydrocarbon Base Oils

The molecular compositions of a range of low viscosity hydrocarbon base oils spanning API Groups II to IV have been quantified using 13C NMR and correlated with base oil elastohydrodynamic (EHD) friction. A strong correlation has been found between the proportions of paraffin, linear and branched carbons and EHD friction, with a high proportion of linear and paraffinic carbon atoms contributing to low-EHD friction but branched carbons contributing to high-EHD friction. Correlation equations have been developed to predict EHD friction based on base oil composition. At very high temperature and low pressure, this correlation breaks down as the lubricant in the contact does not reach sufficiently high shear stress for shear thinning to occur. For Group IV polyalphaolefin, the correlation must be extended to account for the very high proportion of linear carbons originating from linear alkene oligomerization. The correlations developed in this study can be used to guide the design of low-EHD friction base oils.

Enhancement of elastohydrodynamic friction by elastic hysteresis in a periodic structure.

Lubricated contacts are present in many engineering and biological systems involving soft solids. Typical mechanisms considered for controlling the sliding friction in such lubricated conditions involve bulk material compliance, fluid viscosity, viscoelastic response of the material (hysteretic friction), and breaking of the fluid film where dry contact occurs (adhesive friction). In this work we show that a two-phase periodic structure (TPPS), with a varying modulus across the sliding surface, provides significant enhancement of lubricated sliding friction when the system is in the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) regime. We propose that the enhanced friction is due to extra energy loss during periodic transitions of the sliding indenter between the compliant and stiff regions during which excess energy is dissipated through the fluid layer. This is a form of elastic hysteresis that provides a novel mechanism for friction enhancement in soft solids under lubricated conditions.

The role of the thermal conductivity of steel in quantitative elastohydrodynamic friction

Abstract Numerical models for thermal elastohydrodynamic lubricated contacts of steel surfaces have always employed a value for the thermal conductivity of steel corresponding to its soft annealed alloy state. However, steel in elastohydrodynamic lubricated contacts is usually hardened. It has been known for more than a century now (not within the Tribology community though) that the thermal conductivity of steel could be reduced by a factor of more than two when it is hardened. Only recently did the Tribology community realize this “mistake”, of which the impact on friction predictions is investigated in this work. The mistake is found to lead to significant overestimations of friction in the thermo-viscous regime.

A comprehensive mathematical model for an accurate calculation of the oil film thickness of strip cold rolling

The surface quality of cold rolled strip is related to a greater extent on the rolling oil film thickness, and there are many factors that affect the oil film thickness. Considering the various factors comprehensively, an integrated mathematical model is established, such as roughness of rolls and strips, elastohydrodynamic lubrication, friction heat and plastic deformation heat in the rolling zone, viscosity varying with temperature and pressure, etc. A series of equations are developed, such as the Reynolds equation of partial membrane hydrodynamic lubrication based on average flow theory, equation of oil film thickness on rough elastic surface, the thermal interface equations between strip, oil film and roller surface, surface asperity contact pressure equation, lubricant viscosity and density equations, motion equation of the oil film, etc. This model is solved by finite difference method to get the film pressure, oil film thickness, and temperature distribution in the rolling zone. The average rolling pressure, the roll, and strip temperature calculated by the model are very close to the field test results. Comparing the minimum film thickness calculated by the model with the regression formula of other literature test, the error is less than 10%. The minimum oil film thickness is analyzed. It increases with the decrease of the rolling force and is approximately proportional to the rolling speed and lubricant viscosity.

EHD friction properties of ISO VG 320 gear oils with smooth and rough surfaces

The elastohydrodynamic (EHD) friction properties of seven ISO VG 320 gear oils including three polyalphaolefins (PAOs), three polyglycols (PG) and a mineral oil have been investigated in rolling/sliding conditions at six different temperatures and three roughnesses. Film thickness, Stribeck and traction curves have been generated using a ball-on-disc tribometer. Film thickness results are in agreement with previous work that it is primarily controlled by pressure-viscosity coefficient and viscosity of lubricants. The results with smooth surface show that all oils experience significant shear heating leading to friction reduction at higher strain rates or lambda ratios but only PGs reach limiting friction whereas mineral oil and PAOs do not. Friction curves obtained at different temperatures and roughnesses enable simulating an extensive range of lubrication regimes and allow isothermal friction correction for shear heating. Stribeck curves with rough surfaces show an increase in friction in the lambda range of 0.5–3.5, where asperity separation varies from partial to full–indicating that roughness effects can be expected even under full film condition. This increase in friction is attributed to formation of a micro-EHD region, and is seen only with mineral oil and PAOs whereas not with PGs. The results also highlight how EHD friction properties of different family of fluids could be influenced by roughness effects, and the possible mechanisms are discussed.

Elastohydrodynamic Friction Mode as a Method of Surface Finishing Excluding Burnishing

Over the past decades the science of friction has got great development. Processes of friction and wear significantly depend on constructive junction design, selection of wear resistant materials and effective lubricants for them, as well as the conditions of the machinery operation. Currently, a large number of scientific works [7-11, 16-20] are devoted to the review of the contact interaction conditions with the use a lubricant. The method of elastohydrodynamic lubrication is of particular interest when studying different kinds of lubrication. According to the elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory, contact conditions of two elastic bodies are characterized by high pressures which cause the elastic deformation of solids and by the dependence of a lubricant viscosity from the pressure. When using the elastohydrodynamic lubrication the layer profile, the sum amount of elastic deformations, elastic deformations and the lubricant viscosity dependence from pressure are given by set equations [12-15]. The impact of elastohydrodynamic lubrication method on the surface layer of the contacting parts is of great interest.

Эластогидродинамический режим трения как способ финишной обработки поверхностей изделий, исключающий выглаживание

For the last decades the science of friction has received a great development. The processes of friction and wear substantially depend on the design of the units, the selection of wear-resistant materials, effective lubricants and their operation modes, as well as the operating conditions of the mechanisms, however, the lack of scientific ideas about the effect of the regime of the elastohydrodynamic friction regime on obtaining a high-quality surface layer of the workpiece, the influence of the elastohydrodynamic friction regime on the operational properties of the part, the influence of the volume-consumption regimes of the SM feed on the quality of the surface layer of the workpiece, by the rotational ironing method, has become the starting point for setting the goal Research. The purpose of the research is to study the frictional contact of an elastohydrodynamic lubrication lubricant operating as a method that allows obtaining a surface with a high class of purity. In this paper, the influence of the lubricant supply regimes at the moment of friction in the inter-roll contact is studied using the method of physical simulation of the contact interaction of a friction roller pair. The conditions under which a stable coating on the friction surfaces is formed preventing the abrasive wear of their surface layers is studied.

Effect of Base Oil Structure on Elastohydrodynamic Friction

The EHD friction properties of a wide range of base fluids have been measured and compared in mixed sliding–rolling conditions at three temperatures and two pressures. The use of tungsten carbide ball and disc specimens enabled high mean contact pressures of 1.5 and 2.0 GPa to be obtained, comparable to those present in many rolling bearings. The measurements confirm the importance of molecular structure of the base fluid in determining EHD friction. Liquids having linear-shaped molecules with flexible bonds give considerably lower friction than liquids based on molecules with bulky side groups or rings. EHD friction also increases with viscosity for liquids having similar molecular structures. Using pure ester fluids, it is shown that quite small differences in molecular structure can have considerable effects on EHD friction. The importance of temperature rise in reducing EHD friction at slide–roll ratios above about 5% has been shown. By measuring EHD friction at several temperatures and pressures as well as EHD film thickness, approximate corrections to measured EHD friction data have been made to obtain isothermal shear stress and thus EHD friction curves. These show that under the conditions tested most low molecular weight base fluids do not reach a limiting friction coefficient and thus shear stress. However, two high traction base fluids appear to reach limiting values, while three linear polymeric base fluids may also do so. Constants of best fit to a linear/logarithmic isothermal shear stress/strain rate relationship have been provided to enable reconstruction of isothermal EHD friction behaviour for most of the fluids tested.

The effect of ageing on elastohydrodynamic friction in heavy-duty diesel engine oils

To further improve the efficiency of machine components found in automotive engine systems it is important to understand the friction generation in these components. Modelling and simulation of these components are crucial parts of the development process. Accurate simulation of the friction generated in these machine components is, amongst other things, dependent on realistic lubricant rheology and lubricant properties, where especially the latter may change during ageing of the lubricant. Many modern heavy-duty diesel engines are in operation for several hundred hours before the engine oil is changed. In this work, two engine oils, one 10 W-30 and one 5 W-20, have been aged in full heavy-duty diesel engine bench tests for 400 and 470 hours respectively. This roughly corresponds to the amount of ageing these oils are subjected to between oil drains in field conditions. The aged oils were subjected to a number of oil analyses showing, among other things, a maximum increase in oil viscosity of 12.9% for the 5 W-20 oil and 5.5% for the 10 W-30 oil, which is most likely primarily an effect of evaporation and oxidation. The aged oils were tested in a ball-on-disc test rig under elastohydrodynamic conditions where friction was measured and the performance was compared to fresh samples of the same oils. The results show that there is almost no difference in elastohydrodynamic friction when comparing the aged oils with the fresh oils. These results indicate that it is not necessary to include oil ageing in numerical elastohydrodynamic friction models as long as the oil is changed before the ageing has reached a critical level.

An Analytical Approach for Prediction of Elastohydrodynamic Friction with Inlet Shear Heating and Starvation

An analytical friction model is presented, predicting the coefficient of friction in elastohydrodynamic (EHD) contacts. Three fully formulated SAE 75W-90 axle lubricants are examined. The effect of inlet shear heating (ISH) and starvation is accounted for in the developed friction model. The film thickness and the predicted friction are compared with experimental measurements obtained through optical interferometry and use of a mini traction machine. The results indicate the significant contribution of ISH and starvation on both the film thickness and coefficient of friction. A strong interaction between those two phenomena is also demonstrated, along with their individual and combined contribution on the EHD friction.

Low degree of freedom approach for predicting friction in elastohydrodynamically lubricated contacts

A low degree of freedom, semi-analytical model for rapid estimation of the friction coefficient in elastohydrodynamically lubricated contacts was developed and tested. Its estimates are based on the shear rate dependent Carreau equation for the apparent viscosity, together with the hydrodynamic pressure and the temperature of the lubricant. To validate the approach, the model׳s predictions were compared to experimental coefficient of friction measurements acquired using a ball-on-disc test device at various applied loads, entrainment velocities, and slide to roll ratios. The model׳s predictions were in good agreement with the experimental results, showing that it is suitable for use in multibody dynamics analyses where rapid computation of elastohydrodynamic friction is required to minimize computing time and resource consumption.

Effect of the Slide-to-Roll Ratio and the Contact Kinematics on the Elastohydrodynamic Friction in Diamond-Like-Carbon Contacts with Different Wetting Behaviours

In this paper, we show how the slide-to-roll ratio (SRR), the contact kinematics and the surface energy all have important effects on the elastohydrodynamic friction. As reported previously, diamond-like-carbon (DLC) contacts of the type DLC/DLC provide the lowest coefficient of friction, in particular those DLC materials with the lowest surface energies (three different DLC coatings were used in this study). A friction reduction of up to 48 %, compared to a steel/steel contact, was obtained. A surprising new finding from this investigation is that the friction in DLC contacts is significantly reduced for high SRRs, i.e. a difference of up to 27 % was measured in the DLC/DLC contacts when the SRR increased from 0.5 (rolling prevails) to 1.8 (sliding prevails). However, even more surprising is the effect of the SRR on the friction in mixed steel/DLC contacts, which is related to the contact design and its kinematics. We found that if the DLC is coated on the slower surface, a high SRR will not reduce the friction to any significant extent, typically about 5 %, and at most 13 %, compared to steel/steel contacts. However, a significant friction reduction is observed when applying a low-surface-energy DLC coating to the faster surface—on average about 20 % and as high as 33 %. In this case (a high SRR and DLC on the faster surface), mixed steel/DLC surfaces can experience a very similar friction as that seen for DLC/DLC contacts. Qualitatively, the same behaviour was found for both positive and negative SRR values.