Slide-to-roll Ratio Research Articles

Replicating the rolling-sliding dynamics of cam-roller contacts in large-scale hydraulic drivetrains: A small-scale approach

The rolling-sliding dynamics of large-scale cam-roller contacts are strongly influenced by the inertia of the roller, particularly when slippage occurs. Slippage can potentially impact the reliability of these rolling interfaces. This study introduces an approach to replicate the rolling-sliding dynamics of cam-roller contacts in a large-scale hydraulic drivetrain, on a small scale. For that, we have upgraded our two-roller tribometer to enable cyclic loading, allow the application of resisting torques, and generate inertia torques. These are three essential elements required to mimic the dynamics observed at large scales. A method has been proposed for scaling the roller inertia accordingly. Furthermore, we have implemented a modeling framework from previous work to make predictions under various dynamic conditions. The results show that our small-scale approach can replicate five key characteristics anticipated at a large scale, including those linked to slippage. Small increments in the resisting torque significantly increased the slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) and peak traction force, among others. The simulations also predicted these effects, capturing trends and producing reasonable predictions of the magnitude and relevant features of key parameters. The use of cyclic loading, extra inertia, and adjustable resisting torques, effectively generated repeatable and controllable dynamic rolling-sliding conditions. Our work is significant for the design and development of novel large-scale hydraulic drivetrains. Our findings highlight the importance of reducing slippage at low contact forces to prevent the brusque change in the rolling conditions during the high contact force phase. By doing so, surface damage and detrimental dynamic effects can be prevented.

Study on the flash temperature phenomenon in the contact area of rolling bearings

PurposeDue to high speeds, heavy loads, large slide-to-roll ratios (SRR) and other variable operating conditions, some rolling bearings that have been working in harsh conditions may experience flash temperatures in the contact area, which may result in early damage like smearing and then affect service life. This study aims to investigate the flash temperature phenomenon of rolling bearings through theoretical and experimental analysis.Design/methodology/approachA technology for measuring temperature distribution in rolling ball on disk contact under lubrication was developed. The test-rig can simulate the ball bearing contact. The effects of working conditions such as entrainment speed, load, SRR and lubricating oil viscosity on the flash temperature were investigated.FindingsThe results of the theoretical calculation and experiments indicate that the parameters promoting the reduction of film thickness in elastohydrodynamic lubrication are always related with the number of flash points, even film thickness reduced to mixed lubrication. The flash temperature is easier to happen in conditions of high SRR, heavy load, slow entrainment speed and low viscosity oil.Originality/valueThis work conducts an experimental study on the flash temperature phenomenon, providing a test technology for bearing lubrication and failure investigation.Peer reviewThis author has opted into Transparent Peer Review available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2023-0104

Experimentelle Ermittlung von Verschleißkoeffizienten ölgeschmierter Kontakte an einem Zwei-Scheiben-Tribometer

This paper presents a procedure model for the experimental determination of wear coefficients by means of a two-disk tribometer. The approach presented allows any slide-to-roll ratios (SRR) to be set in order to be able to reproduce rolling-sliding contacts in addition to pure sliding contacts. The wear coefficients were calculated by means of tactile surface measurement on the one hand and gravimetric measurement on the other. Both methods show very good agreement. The tribometer tests presented are based on an application example from the field of roller bearing technology. Finally, the experimentally measured wear depths of the test discs are compared with a numerical wear simulation.

Study of mixed-EHL traction coefficient between cam-roller follower interface under different operating conditions

In heavy duty vehicles, high power density (power throughput/weight) is desired to achieve the high fuel efficiency. The increasing demand of high power output results in harsh operating conditions (high load, high surface temperature) in which tribological components such as cam/roller follower are enforced to operate. The traction between cam-roller interface highly depends on the contact conditions between roller-pin interface, and the slippage between roller-pin interface may leads to high friction coefficient between cam/roller follower. In this work, a simplified mixed-EHL model is developed to study the traction between the cam/roller follower interface by considering coupling between roller-pin and cam-roller contacts. The develop mixed-EHL model is validated with published results in order to verify the correctness of the model. It is found that slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) increases with an increase in load torque. The effect of surface roughness on performance parameters is presented. Surface maps of SRR, lambda ratio and asperity load ratio for feasible range of maximum contact load and camspeed are also discussed.

Sensitivity of TEHL Simulations to the Use of Different Models for the Constitutive Behaviour of Lubricants

This study compares the film thickness, lubricant temperature, and traction curves of two groups of commonly used constitutive models for lubricants in thermo-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) modelling. The first group consists of the Tait equation of state, the Doolittle Newtonian viscosity model, and the Carreau shear thinning model. The second group includes the Dowson equation of state, the Roelands–Houpert Newtonian viscosity model, and the Eyring shear thinning model. The simulations were conducted using a Computational Fluid Dynamic and Fluid-Structure Interaction (CFD-FSI) approach, which employs a homogeneous equilibrium model for the flow simulation along with a linear elastic solver to describe the deformation of the solid materials. The simulations were conducted under a load range of 100 kN/m to 200 kN/m and a slide-to-roll-ratio (SRR) range between 0 and 2 using Squalane lubricant. The results show up to a 10% deviation in central film thickness, a 31% deviation in coefficient of friction (CoF), and a 38% deviation in maximum lubricant temperature when using the different constitutive models. This study highlights the sensitivity of TEHL simulation results to the choice of constitutive models for lubricants and the importance of carefully selecting the appropriate models for specific applications.

Assessment of surface and subsurface evolution under rolling contact fatigue of a pearlitic steel

The assessment of surface and subsurface evolution of rolling/sliding elements manufactured of pearlitic rail steel is investigated using a rolling contact fatigue (RCF) test. The experiments are carried out under different contact pressures in boundary lubricated condition, with 0 % and 2 % slide-to-roll ratios (SRR). The micro-pit area on the contact surface was greater for 2 % SRR than for 0 % SRR. As the load cycles continue, these micro-pits are going to become macro-pits. Under higher load and more SRR, these macro-pits link to form surface-initiated spalls in subsequent RCF tests. The anisotropic surface was destroyed with applied SRR conditions in each RCF test, as the distribution of power spectral density (PSD) became nearly uniform in each direction after the RCF test. The rolling element's subsurface shows the breaking and bending of pearlite. Plastic shakedown and ratcheting response are accountable for deforming subsurface, and as a result, subsurface hardness increases. Subsurface fatigue cracks are visible from MnS inclusion. Changes in surface topography characteristics are also investigated since they impact surface fatigue.

Inhibition of Micro-pitting by Tribofilm-Forming ZrO2 Nanocrystal Lubricant Additives: A Micro-pitting Rig and Transmission Electron Microscope Study

The drive to reduce fuel consumption in transportation has encouraged the emergence of low viscosity lubricants to reduce viscous losses in the engine, drivetrain, and other components. However, viscosity reduction increases the risk of surface damage, thus motivating the development of new anti-wear (AW) additives. Capped ZrO2 nanocrystals (NCs) in base oils have been shown to form AW tribofilms within microscale sliding contacts. However, the potential of ZrO2 NCs to protect surfaces subjected to rolling-sliding contact from macroscale damage, such as micro-pitting, remains unexplored. Here, we explore the ability of ZrO2 NCs to form protective tribofilms under harsh conditions using a micro-pitting rig (MPR), consisting of a three ring-on-roller configuration. The experiments were conducted in polyalphaolephin (PAO) base oil, with and without 5 nm diameter ZrO2 NCs, at two levels of slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) (30% and 0%) and at variable test durations up to long durations (119 h). MPR results showed the use of ZrO2 NCs gives rise to the formation of a tribofilm covering the roller surfaces and decreases the initiation and propagation of micro-pits compared to tests in pure PAO base stock. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) performed on focused ion beam (FIB) milled cross-sectional samples of the roller surfaces revealed the growth of dense and 50–100 nm thick ZrO2-based tribofilms independent of (SRR), indicating the potential for robust micro-pitting fatigue protection. Nevertheless, small cracks localized within the near surface region of the roller tested at the most severe conditions (30% SRR and 119 h) were observed. The initiation of these cracks was directly related to the presence of manganese sulphide (MnS) inclusions in the steel, revealed using TEM combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results highlight the benefits of the protective tribofilms formed by ZrO2 NCs and suggest approaches for further optimizing their use.Graphical Abstract

Study of wear and micropitting in rolling/sliding contacts operating under boundary lubrication conditions

Rolling contact fatigue is a common failure mode in gears and bearings. However, this failure mode is getting greater attention due to the increasing tendency to use lower viscosity lubricants to reduce losses. Though several types of research have been done over the past decades, there are still scopes for further investigations. This study aims to study the effect of the slide to roll ratios (SRR), surface roughness and surface treatment on wear and pitting behaviour under realistic contact conditions. Fatigue and wear damages were quantified by studying the surface topography alteration at different contact cycle intervals.It was found that under boundary lubrication, initiation of micropitting took place in almost all test runs. However, once the adhesive wear mechanism activated at a higher contact cycle, the initially formed micropitted area started to wipe off. Moreover, for an extended test period and high sliding, wear volume is almost similar irrespective of SRR. Later, a surface treatment was studied, which was found effective in delaying the micropitting initiation by improving the tribological parameters compared to the untreated samples.

Novel S-N curve for different hardened layers in point and line contact

Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) regularly causes mechanical components to fail under cyclic loads. Popular surface treatment processes such as case hardening (carburization), nitriding and tempered martensitic reduce the effect of RCF damage. This paper presents multi-stage S-N curve for steels with different surface treatments, under point and line contact conditions using RCF tribometers for the experiments and finite element (FEM) simulation to simulate localised stresses in the contacts. Additionally, S-N tests with 0, 5 and 11% slide to roll ratio (SRR) are presented. This work demonstrates the importance of testing key points at RCF S-N curves to optimize the hardened layers.

Effects of slide-to-roll ratio and temperature on the tribological behaviour in polymer-steel contacts and a comparison with the performance of real-scale gears

Gearboxes that employ polymer gears are being used in an ever-increasing number of different applications. However, polymer-gear design suffers from a lack of understanding of their tribological behaviour under controlled – but at the same time realistic – conditions. One of the factors that is often overlooked in model tribological tests is the effect of the slide-to-roll ratio (SRR), which is different in gear meshing and conventionally used model tribological experiments with pure sliding. In this study, we analyse the wear mechanisms and wear coefficients, as well as the friction, in very common gear pairs of non-lubricated POM/steel contacts, but at different SRRs (25–150%) and at two controlled temperatures (50 and 80 °C). The load was also varied (8 and 45 N). The results show that tests at 50 °C in SRR-variable model tribotests can predict the SRR-dependent wear mechanisms along the meshing path (positions A–E) in real gears, while the 80 °C tests are too severe, leading to thermal overload. An about 10-times-larger wear coefficient, compared to the gear tests, was measured during our SRR-variable tests, which is a better estimation compared to the common pin-on-disc test with 2–4 orders-of-magnitude deviation. Furthermore, based on an accurate simulation of the friction behaviour in model tribotests, compared to gear tests, an empirical model based on tribological tests with a variable SRR was developed that predicts the coefficient of friction along the meshing contact line in real-scale gears with a 3% deviation. This study shows that the SRR- and temperature-controlled model tribological tests are relevant for understanding the real-scale polymer gears’ tribological behaviour and mechanisms and furthermore they generate predictive, empirical results.

Fluid–Structure Interaction Modeling of Elastohydrodynamically Lubricated Line Contacts

Abstract This paper presents a partitioned fluid–structure interaction (FSI) solver to model elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of line contacts. The FSI model was constructed using the multiphysics simulation software ansys, wherein an iterative implicit coupling scheme is implemented to facilitate the interaction between fluid and solid components. The model uses a finite volume method (FVM) based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver to determine the lubricant flow behavior using the Navier–Stokes equations. Additionally, the finite element method (FEM) is utilized to model the structural response of the solid. Fluid cavitation, compressibility, non-Newtonian lubricant rheology, load balance algorithm, and dynamic meshing were incorporated in the FSI model. The pressure and film thickness results obtained from the model are presented for a wide range of loads, speeds, slide to roll ratios (SRR), surface dent, material properties (elastic plastic), etc. The model presents a detailed understanding of EHL contacts by removing any assumptions relative to the Reynolds equation. It provides the (i) two-dimensional variation of pressure, viscosity, etc., in the fluid and (ii) stress, elastic/plastic strain in the solid, simultaneously. The FSI model is robust, easy to implement, and computationally efficient. It provides an effective approach to solve sophisticated EHL problems. The FSI model was used to investigate the effects of surface dents, plasticity and material inclusions under heavily loaded lubricated line contacts as can be found in gears and rolling element bearings. The results from the model exhibit excellent corroboration with published results based on the Reynolds equation solvers.

Predicting Fatigue Life for Finite Line Contact under Starved Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Condition

Surface contact fatigue is the main failure mode in many mechanical components, such as gears, bearings, and cam-followers. A fatigue life prediction model is proposed for finite line contact under starved thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) condition in this paper. Then, the effects of inlet oil-supply thickness, slide-to-roll ratio (SRR), and operating conditions on the lubrication performance and fatigue life are investigated. The results show that the lubrication characteristics and fatigue life of finite line contact are obviously different from those of fully flooded situation by introducing the starved lubrication condition. For example, the severe starved conditions lead to a significant increase in friction coefficient and decreased fatigue life. The variation of SRR has an important influence on the fatigue life. With the increase of SRR, the fatigue life decreases firstly and then increases. The stress concentration occurs near the surface when speed is low. In addition, under the low-speed situation, rotation speed variation has little effect on the fatigue life.

Experimental investigation on evolution of surface damage and topography parameters during rolling contact fatigue tests

AbstractNowadays, micropitting is perceived as one of the prevalent wear mechanisms, which is responsible for the breakdown of high power density (power throughput/weight) machines. The current work demonstrates the evolution of surface damage and surface topography parameters during micropitting tests. The test surfaces are examined at different load stages utilizing 3D optical profiler, optical microscope, and scanning electron microscope. The effect of slide‐to‐roll ratio (SRR) on surface damage and topography parameters is also presented. It is observed that the severity of micropitting increases with an increase in the number of cycles. It is concluded that surface bearing index (Sbi), kurtosis (Sku), maximum valley height (Sv), and autocorrelation length (Sal) are positively correlated with surface damage, whereas mean summit curvature (Ssc) and skewness (Ssk) are negatively correlated with surface damage. Surface texture ratio (Str) and power spectral density (PSD) of test surfaces are used for analysing surface texture, and it is found that deterioration in surface texture occurs after 6 million cycles. It is also concluded that geometrical isotropy increases with an increase in SRR.

Two phosphonium cation-based ionic liquids as lubricant additive to a polyalphaolefin base oil

This paper studies the tribological performance of two phosphonium cation-based ionic liquids: trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate ([P6,6,6,14][(iC8)2PO2]) and trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate ([P6,6,6,14][BEHP]), as lubricant additive at 1 wt% to a polyalphaolefin. A comparison of their tribological behavior was made to that of one type of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP). Stribeck curve tests were made in a Mini Traction Machine (MTM) tribometer at entrainment speeds ranging from 2000 to 10 mm/s, 30 N-load, slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) of 50%, and temperatures of 40, 60, 80 and 100 °C. Tribofilm formation tests were also conducted in the MTM at 100 °C, load of 50 N, entrainment speed of 150 mm/s, SRR of 50%, and duration of 60 min. Additionally, reciprocating 60-min wear tests at 60 N-load, frequency of 15 Hz, stroke length of 4 mm and at room temperature were performed with IL-containing mixtures at 0.5 and 1 wt%. Coefficient of friction was recorded during the tests, and wear on the discs surface was measured using confocal microscopy. SEM-EDS and XPS were also used for studying the lubricant-surface interactions after these tests. Lubricants including [P6,6,6,14][(iC8)2PO2] exhibited better tribological performance than [P6,6,6,14][BEHP] ones and close to the ZDDP results. SEM images of worn surfaces exhibited evidence of plastic deformation and adhesive wear and EDS analysis showed that only active elements (P, S, Zn) were detected for mixtures containing ZDDP. XPS analysis indicated a different lubrication mechanism of the blends with ionic liquids compared with the ZDDP ones.

Porosity Effect of Sintered Steel on the Frictional Performance of Conformal and Nonconformal Lubricated Contacts

The effect of surface topography on lubricated systems plays a crucial role in terms of friction performance, because surface micro-irregularities can improve the load-carrying capacity of mechanical parts in lubricated conformal and nonconformal contacts. Sintered materials, which can be applied to manufacturing several mechanical components such as gears, axial thrust bearings, and disc brake pads, are interesting candidates, because they present pores that could be somewhat compared to microcavities produced by surface texturing techniques. This work aims at studying the influence of surface pores originated from the sintering process on the frictional performance of lubricated contacts under different lubrication regimes and slide-to-roll ratios (SRR). The research contributes to understanding how random micro-irregularities could change lubrication conditions and promote effects similar to those of more expensive and precise surface features produced by texturing techniques. The experimental results showed that a decrease in porosity led to a reduction in the coefficient of friction. Furthermore, less porous samples promoted friction reduction compared to nonporous materials due to the probable additional load support caused by small-scale surface pores. Therefore, in addition to the traditional appeal of the use of sintered materials to reduce production costs, the present contribution reveals that this type of material could also be used to reduce friction in contacting mechanical components operating under certain tribological conditions.

Effect of laser surface texturing on friction behaviour in elastohydrodynamically lubricated point contacts under different sliding-rolling conditions

The Laser Surface Texturing (LST) technique has been largely investigated to improve the tribological performance of lubricated contacts. The present contribution is aimed at scrutinizing the influence of three texture configurations fabricated by LST on the tribological performance of elastohydrodynamic (EHD) point contacts under different slide-to-roll ratios (SRR), entrainment velocities and inlet temperatures. Friction experiments were conducted through a series of ball-on-disk tests in the MTM-2 (Mini-Traction Machine) tribometer. Main results showed that the texture configurations promoted significant effects under boundary and mixed lubrication conditions, and also affected the full-film EHD regime at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the tribological performance of textured samples was strongly related to the texture depth. Shallower texture designs (∼0.5 μm) reduced friction compared to untextured material, whereas deeper features (>1 μm) generally led to detrimental results. In general, dimples configuration decreased the lift-off speed and promoted full-film EHD conditions for a larger range of speeds, whereas radial curved grooves yielded to friction reduction under mixed lubrication conditions, moving the transition from boundary to mixed regimes to lower speeds, especially for intermediate lubricant viscosity.

A Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Model for Crowned Rollers and Its Application on Apex Seal–Housing Interfaces

This paper presents a thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) model for analyzing crowned roller lubrication performances under the influence of frictional heating. In this thermal EHL model, the Reynolds equation is solved to obtain the film thickness and pressure results while the energy equation and temperature integration equation are evaluated for the temperature rise in the lubricant and at the surfaces. The discrete convolution fast Fourier transform (DC-FFT) method is utilized to calculate the influence coefficients for both the elastic deformation and the temperature integration equations. The influences of the slide-to-roll ratio (SRR), load, crowning radius, and roller length on the roller lubrication and temperature rise are investigated. The results indicate that the thermal effect becomes significant for the cases with high SRRs or heavy loads. The proposed thermal EHL model is used to study the thermal-tribology behavior of an apex seal–housing interface in a rotary engine, and to assist the design of the apex seal crown geometry. A simplified crown design equation is obtained from the analysis results, validated through comparison with the optimal results calculated using the current crowned-roller thermo-EHL (TEHL) model.

A Mixed-TEHL Analysis of Cam-Roller Contacts Considering Roller Slip: On the Influence of Roller-Pin Contact Friction

In this work, a mixed lubrication model, applicable to cam-roller contacts, is presented. The model takes into account non-Newtonian, thermal effects, and variable roller angular velocity. Mixed lubrication is analyzed using the load sharing concept, using measured surface roughness. Using the model, a quasi-static analysis for a heavily loaded cam-roller follower contact is carried out. The results show that when the lubrication conditions in the roller-pin contact are satisfactory, i.e., low friction levels, then the nearly “pure rolling” condition at the cam-roller contact is maintained and lubrication performance is also satisfactory. Moreover, non-Newtonian and thermal effects are then negligible. Furthermore, the influence of roller-pin friction coefficient on the overall tribological behavior of the cam-roller contact is investigated. In this part, a parametric study is carried out in which the friction coefficient in the roller-pin contact is varied from values corresponding to full film lubrication to values corresponding to boundary lubrication. Main findings are that at increasing friction levels in the roller-pin contact, there is a sudden increase in the slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) in the cam-roller contact. The value of the roller-pin friction coefficient at which this sudden increase in SRR is noticed depends on the contact force, the non-Newtonian characteristics, and viscosity–pressure dependence. For roller-pin friction coefficient values higher than this critical value, inclusion of non-Newtonian and thermal effects becomes highly important. Furthermore, after this critical level of roller-pin friction, the lubrication regime rapidly shifts from full film to mixed lubrication. Based on the findings in this work, the importance of ensuring adequate lubrication in the roller-pin contact is highlighted as this appears to be the critical contact in the cam-follower unit.

CFD modeling compared to temperature and friction measurements of an EHL line contact

Abstract In this paper, predictions from CFD modeling are compared against measurements of surface temperatures and friction for an EHL line contact lubricated with the fluid Santotrac 50. Two slide-to-roll-ratios (SRR), 50% and 100%, and entrainment velocities ranging from 0.211 to 1.13 m/s are considered. Very good agreement is shown for the 50% SRR cases, with only a 3% deviation in friction coefficient values. At 100% SRR, the deviation in friction increases to 3–7% which is attributed to deficiencies in the modeling approach with regard to shear-thinning. The temperature profiles agree reasonably well at 50% SRR and show larger deviations at 100% SRR. For all cases, the formation of a shear-band in the center of the fluid film is predicted. This is very pronounced for 100% SRR, although likely to be over-estimated by this CFD-approach. The data presented here serve as a basis from which further refinements in the modeling and measurements shown can be made.

The Effect of Kinematic Conditions on Film Thickness in Compliant Lubricated Contact

The present paper deals with an investigation of film formation in compliant lubricated contact. Despite these contacts can be found in many applications of daily life including both biological and technical fields, so far little is known about the lubrication mechanisms inside the contacts. The main attention is paid to the effect of kinematic conditions on central film thickness. For this purpose, fluorescent microscopy method was employed. Experiments were realized in ball-on-disk configuration, while the ball was made from rubber and the disk was from optical glass. The contact was lubricated by glycerol and polyglycol to examine the effect of fluid viscosity. The measurements were conducted under pure rolling and rolling/sliding conditions. The entrainment speed varied from 10 to 400 mm/s and constant load of 0.2 N was applied. Experimental results were compared with two theoretical predictions derived for isoviscous-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (I-EHL) regime. It was found that the thickness of lubricating film gradually increases with increasing entrainment speed, which corresponds to theoretical assumptions. Against expectations, evident influence of slide-to-roll ratio (SRR) on film formation was observed. In the last part of the paper, some limitations of this study are discussed and several recommendations for further methodology improvement are suggested.