Tom Reddyhoff

Operating Limits for Acoustic Measurement of Rolling Bearing Oil Film Thickness

An ultrasonic pulse striking a thin layer of liquid trapped between solid bodies will be partially reflected. The proportion reflected is a function of the layer stiffness, which in turn depends on the film thickness and its bulk modulus. In this work, measurements of reflection have been used to determine the thickness of oil films in elastohydrodynamic lubricated (EHL) contacts. A very thin liquid layer behaves like a spring when struck by an ultrasonic pulse. A simple quasi-static spring model can be used to determine the proportion of the ultrasonic waves reflected. Experiments have been performed on a model EHL contact between a ball and a flat surface. A transducer is mounted above the contact such that the ultrasonic wave is focused onto the oil film. The reflected signals are captured and passed to a PC for processing. Fourier analysis gives the reflection spectrum that is then used to determine the stiffness of the liquid layer and hence its thickness. In further testing, an ultrasonic transducer has been mounted in the housing of a deep-groove ball bearing to measure the film generated at the outer raceway as each ball passes. Results from both the ball-flat and ball bearing measurements agree well with steady-state theoretical EHL predictions. The limits of the measuring technique, in terms of the measurable rolling bearing size and operating parameters, have been investigated.

Transient effects in lubricated textured bearings

The aim of this paper is to study the transient phenomena in hydrodynamic textured bearings. Both convergent and convergent–divergent reciprocating textured bearings are considered. A mass-conserving formulation of the Reynolds equation recently proposed by some of the authors and used to capture cavitation in steady-state lubricated contacts has been implemented to study transient effects in lubricated textured bearings. It is shown that the proposed solver is capable of capturing the frictional response of bearings characterised by various geometries and loading conditions in both steady-state and transient configurations. Depending on the boundary conditions governing the problems under investigation, changes in load support or film thickness variations are correctly predicted, demonstrating that the methodology developed in this paper is suitable to provide an efficient tool for the design and optimisation of textured bearings. A qualitative comparison with preliminary experimental data obtained using an apparatus developed to study reciprocating textured surfaces is performed, showing that the characteristic transient behaviour of such surfaces in different loading regimes can be correctly captured using the proposed numerical implementation.

Improved infrared temperature mapping of elastohydrodynamic contacts

Abstract An effective means of studying lubricant rheology within elastohydrodynamic contacts is by detailed mapping of the temperature of the fluid and the bounding surfaces within the lubricated contact area. In the current work, the experimental approach initially developed by Sanborn and Winer and then by Spikes et al., has been advanced to include a high specification infrared (IR) camera and microscope. Besides the instantaneous capture of full field measurements, this has the advantage of increased sensitivity and higher spatial resolution than previous systems used. The increased sensitivity enables a much larger range of testable operating conditions: namely lower loads, speeds, and reduced sliding. In addition, the range of test lubricants can be extended beyond high shearing traction fluids. These new possibilities have been used to investigate and compare the rheological properties of a range of lubricants: namely a group I and group II mineral oil, a polyalphaolephin (group IV), the traction fluid Santotrac 50, and 5P4E, a five-ring polyphenyl-ether. As expected, contact temperatures increased with lubricant refinement, for the mineral base oils tested. Using moving heat source theory, the measured temperature distributions were converted into maps showing rate of heat input into each surface, from which shear stresses were calculated. The technique could therefore be validated by integrating these shear stress maps, and comparing them with traction values obtained by direct measurement. Generally there was good agreement between the two approaches, with the only significant differences occurring for 5P4E, where the traction that was deduced from the temperature over-predicted the traction by roughly 15 per cent. Of the lubricants tested, Santotrac 50 showed the highest average traction over the contact; however, 5P4E showed the highest maximum traction. This observation is only possible using the IR mapping technique, and is obscured when measuring the traction directly. Both techniques showed the effect of shear heating causing a reduction in traction.

Experimental Investigation of Viscoelastic Rolling Contacts: A Comparison with Theory

We present a detailed experimental investigation on viscoelastic rolling contacts. The tests focus on contact area, penetration and viscoelastic dissipation measurements between a nitrile rubber ball rolling on a glass disc. Each of the measured parameters is shown to be dependent on the rolling speed and normal load and has, therefore, been used to assess the main differences between viscoelastic and linear elastic rolling contacts. Experimental outcomes are compared with numerical predictions of the theory proposed by Carbone and Putignano (J Mech Phys Solid, 2013). A good agreement is found between experiments and theoretical predictions, thus demonstrating the validity of the numerical approach. This has important implications for modelling the behaviour of real viscoelastic materials, whose response is characterised by a wide distribution of relaxation times. The presented methodologies and results can be applied directly or are of relevance to a number of engineering components, such as tires and seals.

A theoretical and experimental study of viscoelastic rolling contacts incorporating thermal effects

Viscoelastic contacts are present in countless industrial components including tires, dampers and rubber seals. The effective design of such components requires a full knowledge of viscoelastic contact mechanics in terms of stresses, strains and hysteric dissipation. To assess some of these issues, this paper describes a series of experiments on the contact area and penetration in a rolling contact between a nitrile rubber ball and a glass disk. The experimental results are compared with the theory proposed by Carbone and Putignano1 showing close agreement at low speeds. However, discrepancies arise at speeds above 100 mm/s because of the frictional heating. In order to evaluate this effect, the temperature of the sliding interface is measured for different rolling speeds using infrared microscopy. Thermal results showed that interfacial temperature remained constant at low rolling speeds before rising significantly when speeds above 100 mm/s were reached. These temperature effects are incorporated into the numerical simulations by means of an approximated approach, which corrects the viscoelastic modulus based on the mean measured temperature in the contact. The result of this approach is to extend the region of agreement between experimental and numerical outcomes to higher speeds.

Ultrasonic Measurement for Film Thickness and Solid Contact in Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication

The reflection of ultrasound can be used to determine oil film thickness from the stiffness of the separating film. However, boundary or mixed film lubrication is a common occurrence in elastohydrodynamic lubricated (EHL) contacts, as the nominal thickness of the separating film approaches the surface asperity height. In this paper an ultrasonic investigation was carried out on the interface between a steel ball sliding on a flat disc as the speed was reduced into the boundary regime. The ultrasonic reflection then depends on the stiffness of the interface that now consists of an oil layer and asperity contacts. To distinguish the stiffness contribution from asperity contact and oil layer, a mixed lubrication model for circular contacts was established. This predicted the lubricant film thickness and proportions of solid and liquid mediated contact. The total stiffness predicted by theoretical models showed a good agreement with experimental measurement for kinematic cases. The model can then be used to extract the proportion of real area of contact, and the oil film thickness, from ultrasonic results.Copyright

Effect of Shear Rate, Temperature, and Particle Concentration on the Rheological Properties of ZnO and ZrO2 Nanofluids

The rheological behavior of ZnO and ZrO2 nanoparticle suspensions in a polyalphaolefin (PAO 6) was investigated at high shear rates. Nanoparticles were dispersed at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 wt% in PAO 6 using an ultrasonic probe to produce nanofluids whose viscosity was determined over shear rates and temperatures ranging from 106 to 107 s−1 and 40 to 100°C, respectively. For the particle concentrations tested, the nanofluids exhibited a shear-thinning rheological behavior. The classical models typically used to predict nanofluid viscosity failed under these conditions because the viscosity depends not only on the temperature but also on the shear rate imposed. Two new experimental viscosity models were developed and validated for the studied nanofluids and constitute a practical tool to estimate the tribological behavior in lubricated pairs.

Micro rotary ball bearing with integrated ball cage: Fabrication and characterization

This paper presents a rotary MEMS ball bearing with an integrated silicon ball cage. The device is a deep groove radial ball bearing consisting of steel balls encapsulated between two micromachined silicon wafers. The silicon ball cage is released from the bulk silicon substrate during fabrication. The objective was to show that a simple caged bearing design provides reliable motion at both high and low speeds. The running torque of two identical devices was measured for speeds ranging from 10 to 20,000 rpm. One of the devices was disassembled before failure to provide images of the wear experienced during testing.

Experimental Validation of a Mixed-Lubrication Regime Model for Textured Piston-Ring-Liner Contacts

Recent experiments have shown that automotive piston-liner friction may be reduced by up to 50 % if the surface of the liner is laser textured with certain configurations of micro-pockets. It is important to model this behavior to understand and optimize the friction reduction mechanisms that are occurring. However, until now, very few models that predict the lubrication performance of textured surfaces have been successfully validated against experimental data. This is because of the requirement for them to: (1) reproduce experimental configurations with a certain degree of fidelity, (2) conserve mass properly, and (3) account for transient, boundary lubrication conditions. To address this, the current paper presents a comparison between the results from a numerical model, which fulfils these criteria, and an experimental test rig operating under the same conditions. The mathematical modeling is based on the averaged Reynolds’ equation with Patir and Cheng’s flow factors and the p − θ Elrod–Adams mass-conserving cavitation model. Simultaneously to the fluid flow solution, the contact pressures that arise from the asperity interactions are also included into the calculations through the well-known stochastic Greenwood and Tripp model for rough contacts. The experimental data is produced using a reciprocating tribometer, whose contact conditions are closely controlled and accurately mimic those found in an automotive piston–liner conjunction. Data is presented in terms of friction force versus stroke angle, and the similarities and differences between the model and experiment are discussed.

Friction Induced Vibration in Windscreen Wiper Contacts

This research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms that give rise to friction induced noise in automotive windscreen wipers, with a focus on frequencies between 500 and 3500 Hz. To study this phenomenon, experimental friction, sound, and high-speed video measurements are combined with finite element modeling of a rubber wiper/glass contact. In agreement with previous research, simultaneous sound and friction measurements showed that wiper noise in this frequency range results from the negative damping effect caused by the dependence of friction on speed in the mixed lubrication regime. Furthermore, during sliding, the friction induced noise recorded by the microphone occurred in one of two frequency ranges (close to 1000 Hz and between 2000 and 2500 Hz). These coincided closely with the eigen-frequencies of first two bending modes, predicted by finite element modeling. Experimental observations also showed the wiper to be oscillating backward and forward without any torsional motion and that the thickness of the glass had no effect on the emitted noise. These observations highlight how friction induced noise—although caused by conditions within contact—has characteristics that are determined by the structure of the excited component. A number of additional findings are made. Most importantly, both experiment and finite element modeling showed that the presence of water in contact with the wiper modulates the frequency and amplitude of the emitted noise by effectively adding mass to the vibrating system. While this is occurring, Faraday-like standing waves are observed in the water. In addition to this, friction induced vibration is shown only to occur for glass surfaces with intermediate surface energies, which is possibly due to high contact angles preventing water reaching the contact. Based on the understanding gained, a number of suggestions are made regarding means of reducing windscreen wiper noise.