• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.129-135
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• 2021

An air-bearing stage uses externally pressurized air as the lubricant between the stage and the rail. The supporting force generated by the supplied air makes the stage rise and move smoothly with extremely low friction. Mechanical contacts rarely happen, the bearing surfaces do not produce wear particles, and dust is not generated. It also has the advantage of having low energy loss and high precision. Because of its advantages, an air-bearing stage is used in several types of machines that require high precision. In this article, the effect of the pocket depth on the hammering phenomena of the air bearing is studied. An analysis program is developed to calculate the dynamic behavior of the stage by solving the Reynolds equation between the stage and the guideway and the equations of motion on the stage. The acceleration, constant movement, and deceleration are applied to the stage. The stage is modeled as a five-degree-of-freedom system. In the course of the dynamic behavior, the hammering phenomena occur under some special conditions. The deeper the pocket, the more unstable the behavior of the stage, and air hammering occurs when it exceeds a certain depth. In addition, the higher the supply pressure, the more unstable the behavior of the stage. However, hammering occurs even with a shallow pocket depth. Other conditions that affect the hammering phenomena are calculated and discussed.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.481-485
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• 2005

In this work, the thermal and mechanical properties of vapor grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNFs)-reinforced difunctional epoxy (EP) composites were investigated in the presence of the 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and $2wt\%$ VGCNFs. The thermal properties of the VGCNFs/EP composites were studied by thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The mechanical properties of the VGCNFs/EP composites were also examined by universal testing machine (UTM), falling impact test, and the friction and wear tests. From experimental results, the thermal and mechanical properties of the VGCNFs/EP composites were improved with increasing the VGCNFs contents. This was due to the increase of crosslinking structure of the composites, resulting in improving the mechanical interlockings between VGCNFs and epoxy resins in the present composite system.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.101-105
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• 2016

Trap effect of groove is evaluated in a lubricating system using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The simulation is based on the standard k-ε turbulence model and the discrete phase model (DPM) using a commercial CFD code FLUENT. The simulation results are also capable of showing the particle trajectories in flow field. Computational domain is meshed using the GAMBIT pre-processor. The various grooves are applied in order to improve lubrication characteristics such as reduction of friction loss, increase in load carrying capacity, and trapping of the wear particles. Trap effect of groove is investigated with variations in cross-sectional shape and Reynolds number in this research. Various cross-sectional shapes of groove (rectangular, triangle, U shaped, trapezoid, elliptical shapes) are considered to evaluate the trap effect in simplified two-dimensional sliding bearing. The particles are assumed to steel, and defined a single particle injection condition in various positions. The “reflect” boundary condition for discrete phase is applied to the wall boundary, and the “escape” boundary condition to “pressure inlet” and “pressure outlet” conditions. The streamlines are compared with particles trajectories in the groove. From the results of numerical analysis in the study, it is found that the cross-sectional shapes favorable to the creation of vortex and small eddy current are effective in terms of particle trapping effect. Moreover, it is found that the Reynolds number has a strong influence on the pattern of vortex or small eddy current in the groove, and that the pattern of the vortex or small eddy current affects the trap effect of the groove.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.350-355
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• 2014

This study proposes a sustainable bearing remanufacturing process using the ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technique. The UNSM technique is a newly developed and sophisticated surface modification technique that can increase the mechanical properties and improve the friction and wear performance of materials. Taking advantage of the bearing manufacturing process is the most significant way of optimizing the life of a bearing. The proper maintenance and usage of repaired bearings can increase their life to be equal to or greater than that of new bearings. This paper discusses the restoration of certain mechanical properties of worn, damaged, and discarded bearings, and suggests a remanufacturing process for used bearings, which can impart them with a lifespan equivalent to that of new bearings. The most damaged part of the discarded bearings is the raceway, which is the site of accumulated fatigue. The existing polishing or barrel finishing processes can recover the accumulated fatigue only partially. Rolling contact fatigue tests performed on UNSM-treated new and used specimens polished after $4{\times}10^6$ cycles reveal that UNSM-treated new specimens exhibit the longest fatigue life compared to other specimens. This study verifies the proposed complete fatigue recovery process, which can increase the fatigue life of used bearings to a level greater than that of new bearings.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.3048-3057
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• 1996

Analysis model containing two inclined surface cracks on semi-infinite elastic body is established and analyzed on the basis of linear fracture mechanics to examine mutual interference of two surface cracks. Muskhelishvili's complex stress functions are introduced and a set of singular integral equations is obtained for a dislocation density function. The stress intensity factors at crack tip are obtained by using the Gerasoulis'method. When two surface cracks are parallel and have the same length, the values of $K_1$and $\Delta K_11$(variation of $K_11$) for crack 1 and crack 2 decrease by the mutual interference of two surface cracks as the distance between the two surface cracks shortens. The effect of mutual interference is remarkable in high friction coefficient. In case that two surface cracks are parallel, the values of $K_1$and $\Delta K_11$for crack 2 decrease as the length ratio ot crack 2 to crack 1 becomes small. As the crack inclination angle rises, the value of $K_1$ and the mutual interference of $K_1$for crack 2 increase and the value of$\Delta K_11$ for crack 1 becomes smaller than that for crack 2.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2010

The windshield wiper consists of 4 parts: a blade, an arm, a linkage and a motor. The wiper blade makes contact with the windshield and is designed to be operated normally at an angle of 30~50 degrees to the front glass. If the contact pressure between the wiper blade and windshield surface is too high, noise and wear of the rubber will result. On the other hand, if the contact pressure is too low, the performance will do badly, since foreign substances such as dust and stains will not be removed well. The pressure and friction of the wiper blade has a great influence on its effectiveness in cleaning the front window. This is due to the contact of the rubber with the window. This paper presents the dynamic analysis method to estimate the performance of the flat type blade of the wiper system. The blade has a nonlinear characteristic since the rubber is an incompressible hyper-elastic and visco-elastic material. Thus, Structural dynamic analysis using a complex contact model for the blade is performed to find the characteristics of the blade. The flexible multi-body dynamic model is verified by the comparison between test and analysis result. Also, the optimization using the central composite design table is performed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 1989

In metal cutting various types of chips are produced in consequence of cutting conditions. According to the type of chips the cutting mechanism is to be changed. Most of the cutting theory is based on the continuous chip because of its convenient analysis, but the occurrence of the saw-toothed chip depends upon the workpiece and/or the cutting conditions, one of which is titanium alloy used widely. Nowadays titanium alloys are used widely with the rapid development of aerospace structural engineering application, whereas the theory of cutting mechanism has not been established yet, and the formatting process has not been understood satisfactorily, either. Unfortunately several misconceptions, conflicting statements and statements needing further clarifi- cation are also found. In this paper an attempt is made to clarify the formation process of saw-toothed chips which are to be produced during the orthogonal cutting process of titanium alloys. They were machined at low speed to avoid the rapid tool wear. We observed the SEM-photographs of chips taken at the quick-st- opping device. It is hoped that a rational model of the mechanics of cyclic chip formation can be developed. The results obtained are as follows. 1. When a saw- toothed chip is formed, the shear band begins at the primary shear zone and trans- fers to the free surface, so that a segment is produced and it is completed by upsetting between the formatting segment and the formatted segment. 2. As the rake angle or the clearance angle increases in the machining of the titanium alloy, the chip approaches to that of the continous type. 3. When the rake angle and the clearance angle are increased the shear energy and the unit friction energy decrease, which shows the same aspect as that of the continuous chip.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Fluid pumps in chemical processes are typically driven by electric motors. Even if the motor is separated from the pump with seals, wear resulting from friction and misalignment can lead to leakage of chemical fluid, causing corrosion in the bearing supporting the motor, and, eventually, failure of the motor. It is thus a standard procedure to replace bearings at regular intervals. In this article, we propose 3D-printed plastic ball bearings for use as an alternative to commercial stainless-steel ball bearings. The plastic bearings are easy to manufacture, require less time to replace, and are chemically resistant. To validate the applicability of the plastic bearings, we first conducted chemical resistance tests. Bearings were immersed in 30 caustic acid and 30 nitric acid for 30 min and 24 h, respectively. The test results showed no corrosive damage to the bearings. A test rig was set up to compare the performance of the plastic bearings with that of the commercially equivalent deep-groove ball bearings. Loading test results showed that the plastic bearings performed as well as the commercial bearing in terms of vibration level and load-handling capability. Finally, a plastic bearing was subjected to a clean-in-place process for three months. It actually outperformed the commercial bearing in terms of chemical resistance. Thus, 3D-printed plastic bearings are a viable alternative to stainless-steel ball bearings.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.382-388
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• 2019

It is currently well known that surface textures act as lubricant reservoirs, entrap wear debris, and hydrodynamic bearings, which can lead to certain increases in load-carrying capacities. Until recently, the vast majority of research has focused on parallel sliding machine components such as thrust bearings, mechanical face seals, piston rings, etc. However, most sliding bearings have a convergent film shape in the sliding direction and their hydrodynamic pressure is mainly generated by the wedge action. Following the first part of the present study that investigates the effect of groove position on the lubrication performances of inclined slider bearings, this paper focuses on the effects of groove depths and film thicknesses. Using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT, the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations are numerically analyzed. The results show that the film thickness and groove depth have a significant influence on the pressure distribution. The maximum pressure occurs at the groove depth where the vortex is found and, as the depth increases, the pressure decreases. There is also a groove depth to maximize the supporting load with the film thickness. The friction force acting on the slider decreases with deeper grooves. Therefore, properly designed groove depths, depending on the operating conditions, can improve the load-carrying capacity of inclined slider bearings as compared to the bearings without a groove.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.253-261
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• 2020

In this paper, we present an experimental investigation of the frequency characteristics and a visual inspection of an oxidizer pump with a modified rear-floating ring seal for a 7-tonf turbopump. An oxidizer pump typically operates at high rotational speeds and under cryogenic conditions. Despite its low hydraulic efficiency, the floating ring seal is frequently employed as a leakage control solution for turbomachinery because it effectively reduces abrasion by friction. When the oxidizer pump starts up, the floating ring moves excursively but locks up stably against the pump casing when the contact pressure increases. The compressive force on the floating ring depends on the hydrodynamic forces induced by the flow through the floating ring. This force is controlled by the nose position of the floating ring. Based on a validation test for a 7-tonf turbopump with two types of floating rings, we concluded that the floating ring with a small diameter nose can move easily with a low contact pressure in the cooling path. This leads to instability of the pressure fluctuation around the floating ring. In contrast, a floating ring with a large diameter nose has a high contact pressure and attaches strongly to the casing, which causes wear and frictional oxidation between the contact surfaces of the impeller and the floating ring.