• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.1-5
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• 2015

In this study, we apply an ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technique to radial journal bearings (JBs) and disks made of SUJ2 and SCM440, respectively. We investigate frictional properties of untreated and UNSM-treated specimens using a ball-on-disk tester. We construct the Stribeck curve at the boundary, under mixed and full hydrodynamic lubrication conditions for the specimens using friction data obtained from JB tests. The friction at the boundary lubrication condition and the transition period to mixed lubrication condition on the UNSM-treated specimens is reduced, which improves the service life of JBs. The major effects of this reduction in the three lubrication regimes can be explained in the terms of improved mechanical properties and the presence of micro dimples. Moreover, we estimate the friction and fatigue properties of SCM440 specimens using a ball-on-disk specimen under dry and oil-lubricated conditions. Friction test results reveal that the UNSM-treated specimens show lower friction coefficient than the untreated specimens under both dry and oil-lubricated conditions. We evaluate the fatigue properties of SCM440 specimens by calculating the Hertzian stress with respect to the failure cycles. Fatigue tests results also reveal that the UNSM-treated specimens possess a longer fatigue life than the untreated specimens. The improved properties are effective in increasing the energy efficiency of bearings.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.11-17
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• 2020

In manufacturing operations, oil plays a crucial role in reducing friction and wear among interacting surfaces at varying velocities, loads, and temperature. Hydrocarbon oil is considered the origin of lubrication oils. However, this base oil has been limited in its use as it is a principal cause of pollution. This research focuses on identifying a biodegradable base oil lubricant that possesses a stable coefficient of friction and viscosity with temperature. Friction analysis is conducted by employing a pin on a disk tribotester with a fixed load of 10 N at varying sliding speeds ranging from 0.06 m/s to 0.34 m/s. Oil viscosity analysis is perfomed at room temperature by using a rotary viscometer. Tests are performed using canola oil and paraffin oil as lubricants. The results indicate that the viscosity of canola oil is more efficient than paraffin oil. The non-dimensional characteristic number according to the Stribeck curve reveals an elastohydrodynamic lubrication regime with canola oil lubrication. A comparison of both lubricants reveals that, the friction efficiency of canola oil and paraffin oil does not differ considerably. However, the friction in canola oil is observed to decrease more than that in paraffin oil at an elevated sliding speed. The tests confirm that canola oil is potent in minimizing the friction coefficient of SCM440 bodies interacting with one another as well as acted upon by load.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.121-125
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• 2000

Silicon nitride ceramic has been verified as an excellent rolling bearing material because of its high strength and outstanding rolling fatigue life properties. However under some corrosive circumstances it showed drawbacks such as hardness reduction and severe wear caused by corrosion. In this work, the variations of the rolling wear and hardness of three kinds of ceramics were studied for the specimen aged 15 days in alkali water (90 $\pm$ 2$\^{C}$,25 wt% NaOH ). All of the specimens, ① Si$_3$N$_4$, ② 3Y-TZP and ③ 3Y-TZP alloyed with 5 wt% CeO$_2$, were sintered and post-HIPed, and then polished up to 0.02 $\mu$mRa of surface roughness. Rolling wear tests were conducted by MJ type rolling fatigue life tester under the initial theoretical maximum contact stress of 3.16 GPa and the spindle speed of 1,000 rpm. Spindle oil was used as a lubricant. The specimens were not worn before aging. For the specimen aged in alkali water, Si$_3$N$_4$ and 3Y-TZP were worn by rolling wear tests, and hardness was decreased. While aging the specimens, the phase was transformed from tetragonal to monoclinic in 3Y-TZP and the microstructure change occurred in Si$_2$N$_4$. 3Y-TZP specimens alloyed with 5 wt% CeO$_2$ were not worn after aging and no phase transformation occurred while aging.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.146-155
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• 2014

In this study, we conduct fretting corrosion tests on tin-plated brass coupons to investigate the effect of temperature on fretting corrosion for various span amplitudes. We prepare a coupled fretting corrosion specimens using a tin-plated brass coupon with a thickness of $10{\mu}m$. One specimen is a flat coupon and the other specimen is a coupon with a protuberance in 1 mm radius, which is produced using 2 mm diameter steel ball. We conduct fretting corrosion tests at $25^{\circ}C$, $50^{\circ}C$, $75^{\circ}C$, $100^{\circ}C$ by rubbing the coupled coupons together at the contact between the flat and protuberance coupons. We measure electric resistance of the contact during the fretting corrosion test period. There is increase in resistance with fretting cycles. It is found that rate of increase in electric resistance becomes faster with increase in testing temperature. Magnitude of friction coefficient increases with fretting span amplitudes. And, change in friction coefficient becomes desensitized to the increment in span amplitude. Assuming that failure cycle is the cycle with an electric resistance of $0.01{\Omega}$, we find that failure lifetime ($N_f$) decreases with increase in testing temperature. Furthermore, based on the assumption that the damage rate of the connector is inversely related to the failure cycle, we calculate the activation energy for fretting damage to be 13.6 kJ/mole by using the Arrhenius equation. We propose a method to predict failure cycle at different temperatures for span amplitudes below $30{\mu}m$. Friction coefficients generally increase with increase in span amplitude and decrease in testing temperature.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.234-239
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• 2014

Magneto-rheological elastomer (MR elastomer) is a smart material, because it has mechanical properties that change under a magnetic field. An MR elastomer changes its stiffness characteristics when the inner particles (iron particles) align along the direction of a magnetic field. There has been much research to make use of this characteristic to control vibration issues in various mechanical systems, such as for mounting systems in the automotive field, home appliances, etc. Furthermore, the friction and wear properties of MR elastomer have been studied, as these relate to the durability of the material needed to meet engineering requirements. Rolling friction (or rolling resistance) is one of these friction properties, but has not yet been studied in the context of MR elastomers. In this study, an MR elastomer is fabricated in the shape of a hollow cylinder to evaluate the rolling friction characteristic under a magnetic field. The test apparatus is setup and a strain gauge is used to calculate the rolling resistance under test conditions. Permanent magnets are used to supply the magnetic field during tests. The load and rolling speed conditions are also considered for the tests. The test results show that rolling friction characteristic has a different trend under different magnetic field, load, and rolling speed conditions. It is assumed that the stiffness change of an MR elastomer under a magnetic field has an effect on the rolling friction characteristic of the MR elastomer. For the future work, the rolling friction characteristics of MR elastomers will be controlled by adjusting the strength of the magnetic field using electromagnets.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.46-50
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• 2013

In this study, the frictional behaviors of articular cartilage against a Co-Cr alloy in two types of kinematic motions were compared. Cartilage pins were punched from the femoral condyles of porcine knee joints, and Co-Cr alloy disks were machined from orthopedic-grade rods and polished to a surface roughness ($R_a$) of 0.002. Friction tests were conducted by using a pin-on-disk-type tribotester in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) under pressures of 0.5, 1, and 2 MPa. All tests were performed in the repeat pass rotational (ROT) and the linear reciprocal (RCP) sliding motions with the same sliding distance and speed of 50 mm/s. The coefficients of friction of the cartilage against the Co-Cr alloy increased with the sliding time in both kinematic motions for all contact pressures. The maximum coefficients of friction in RCP motion were 1.08, 2.82, and 1.96 times those in ROT motion for contact pressures of 0.5, 1, and 2 MPa, respectively. As the contact pressure increased, the coefficients of friction gradually increased in RCP motion, whereas they decrease and then increased in ROT motion. The interaction between the directional change of the shear stress and the orientation of collagen fiber in the superficial layer of the cartilage could affect the change in the frictional behaviors of the cartilage. A large difference in the coefficients of friction between the two kinematic motions could be interpreted as differences in the directional change of shear stress at the contact surface.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.306-313
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• 2004

Many of the current development in surface modification engineering are focused on multilayered coatings, which have the potential to improve the tribological properties. Four different multilayered coatings were deposited on AISI D2 steel in this study. The prepared samples are designed as $WC-Ti_{0.6}Al_{0.4}N,\;WC-Ti_{0.53}Al_{0.47}N,\;WC-Ti_{0.5}Al_{0.5}N\;and\;WC-Ti_{0.43}Al_{0.57}N$. The multilayered coatings were investigated with respect to coating surface and cross-sectional morphology, roughness, adhesion, hardness, porosity and tribological behaviors. Especially, wear tests of four multilayered coatings were performed by using a ball-on-disc configuration with a linear sliding speed of 0.017 m/sec and a normal load of 5.38 N load. The tests were carried out at room temperature in air by employing AISI 52100 steel ball $(H_R\;=\;66) $ having a diameter of 10 mm. The surface morphology, and topography of the wear scars of samples and balls have been determined by using scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM). Also, wear mechanism was determined by using SEM coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Results have showed an improved wear resistance of the $WC-Ti_{1-x}Al_xN$coatings with increasing of Al (aluminum) concentration.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.39-44
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• 2005

Friction and wear properties of the Boron carbide ($B_{4}C$) coating 100 nm thickness were studied under various relative humidity (RH). The boron carbide film was deposited on silicon substrate by DC magnetron sputtering method using $B_{4}C$ target with a mixture of Ar and methane ($CH_4$) as precursor gas. Friction tests were performed using a reciprocation type friction tester at ambient environment. Steel balls of 3 mm in diameter were used as counter-specimen. The results indicated that relative humidity strongly affected the tribological properties of boron carbide coating. Friction coefficient decreased from 0.42 to 0.09 as the relative humidity increased from $5\%$ to $85\%$. Confocal microscopy was used to observe worn surfaces of the coating and wear scars on steel balls after the tests. It showed that both the coating surface and the ball were significantly worn-out even though boron carbide is much harder than the steel. Moreover, at low humidity ($5\%$) the boron carbide showed poor wear resistance which resulted in the complete removal of coating layer, whereas at the medium and high humidity conditions, it was not. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analyses were performed to characterize the chemical composition of the worn surfaces. We suggest that tribochemical reactions occurred during sliding in moisture air to form boric acid on the worn surface of the coating. The boric acid and the tribochemcal layer that formed on steel ball resulted in low friction and wear of boron carbide coating.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제35권5호
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• pp.286-293
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• 2019

In friction and wear tests that use friction force microscopy (FFM), the wear debris transfer to the tip apex that changes tip radius is a crucial issue that influences the friction and wear performances of films and coatings with nanoscale thicknesses. In this study, FFM tests are performed for bilayer $MoS_2$ film to obtain a better understanding of how geometrical and chemical changes of tip apex influence the friction and wear properties of nanoscale molecular layers. The critical load can be estimated from the test results based on the clear distinction of the failure area. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy are employed to measure and observe the geometrical and chemical changes of the tip apex. Under normal loads lower than 1000 nN, the reuse of tips enhances the friction and wear performance at the tip-sample interface as the contact pair changes with the increase of tip radius. Therefore, the reduction of contact pressure due to the increase of tip radius by the transfer of $MoS_2$ or Mo-dominant wear debris and the change of contact pairs from diamond/$MoS_2$ to partial $MoS_2$ or Mo/$MoS_2$ can explain the critical load increase that results from tip reuse. We suggest that the wear debris transfer to the tip apex should be considered when used tips are repeatedly employed to identify the tribological properties of ultra-thin films using FFM.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.222-228
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• 2019

As rubber products such as O-rings, which are also known as packings or toric joints, come in regular, long term contact with liquid fuel, they can eventually swell, become mechanically weakened, and occasionally crack; this diminishes both their usefulness and intrinsic lifetime and could cause leaks during the steady-state flow condition of the fuel. In this study, we evaluate the lifetime of such products through compression set tests of FKM, a family of fluorocarbon elastomer materials defined by the ASTM international standard D141; these materials have great compression, sunlight, and ozone resistance as well as a low gas absorption rate. In this process, O-rings are immersed in the liquid fuel of airtight containers that can be expressed as a compression set, and the liquid fuel leakage in a flow rig tester at variable temperatures over 12 months is investigated. Using the Power Law model, our study determined a theoretical O-ring lifetime of 2,647 years, i.e. a semi-permanent lifespan, by confirming the absence of liquid fuel leakage around the O-ring assembled fittings. These results indicate that the FKM O-rings are significantly compatible for fuel tests to evaluate long-term sealing conditions.