Prasun Chakraborti

Prediction of Polymer Wear—An Analytical Model and Experimental Validation

Because of its industrial relevance, wear of engineering polymers has been studied extensively both experimentally and theoretically. The wear mechanism of polymers is complex due to the influence of numerous parameters and it has long been realized that a predicting tool for wear of polymers in dry and lubricated sliding is of practical importance. Polymer wear models hitherto have been largely done by fitting the experimental data to an empirical equation and some major contributions have been made by a number of authors in this area. However, a more fundamental approach would be to analyze the experimental evidence collectively on the basis of the variables involved and the mechanisms leading to particle detachment. Although some progress has been made in this direction, a need exists to consolidate the major experimental findings in order to develop a comprehensive analytical wear model. The present work attempts to develop such a wear model and validate the proposed model experimentally. The wear equations are presented in two groups, one representing primarily abrasive wear and the other the fatigue mechanism, since the two mechanisms operate in distinct roughness ranges. Each group consists of four equations representing different contact speed and temperature ranges. The results indicate that the surface forces dominate in the low roughness range while at the higher roughness ranges abrasive wear is predominant. Among other observations the results also indicate that a unique value of the ratio of equivalent elastic modulus to hardness (E//H) exists where wear may either be insignificant or very large depending on the parametric combination. These predictions are likely to be of practical importance.

Performance & stability analysis of a three lobe journal bearing with varying parameters: Experiments and analysis

3-lobe Hydrodynamic oil journal bearings are widely used in heavy industries as a part of different rotating machinery due to their high level of performances. 3-lobe hydrodynamic oil journal bearing allows the transmission of large amounts of loads at a mean speed of rotation. In this present work, an attempt has been made to investigate the pressure domain and subsequent effects in a 3 lobe journal bearing under different static loads in a stable operating speed. Analytical calculations were carried out with codes generated using Matlab software. Experiments were performed in Journal Bearing test rig incorporating 3-lobe under different loads with stable operating speed of 1000 RPM. It has been observed that an increase in load resulted rise in pressure profile, maximum pressure angle and temperature. A further attempt has been made to see the effect of eccentricity ratio and dynamic viscosity considering no change in the RPM. It has also been observed that dynamic viscosity has a significant effect on the stable operating speed. With the reduction in static load, the stability of operating speed attained at higher values.