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The objective of this study was to investigate the grease-lubricated film-forming mechanisms in the finite line contact and to improve the grease-lubricated finite line contact's film-forming capacity. An elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) test rig with two interferometry microscopes, which could simultaneously monitor two different contact locations in the finite line contact, was constructed in order to study the influences of the grease thickener formulation on the film thickness and lubrication condition. By using the relative light intensity method, the thickness maps of the grease-lubricated film were calculated from the interferometer images captured by the two microscopes. The test results revealed that the grease thickener's formulation had remarkable effects on film formation and the perturbation of film thickness. For the lithium-based grease, the film's thickness near the two ends of the roller was prone to severe perturbation caused by the conglomeration of clumps that were hard to shear. For the aluminum-complex-based grease, the fibers tended to accumulate in the middle of the roller rather than at the two ends. The urea-based grease could be easily sheared into smaller particles. In addition to the straight-line profile rollers, the logarithmic profile rollers were tested and found to effectively enhance the axial grease flow, increase the axial shear stress, and thus shear more fibers into particles within the contact area.


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Experimental investigation of EHD grease lubrication in finite line contacts

Show Author's information Zhijian WANG1Xuejin SHEN1( )Xiaoyang CHEN1Dehua TAO1Lei SHI1Shuangbiao LIU2
School of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China
Caterpillar Inc, 100 Sl White Blvd, LaGrange , GA 30241, USA

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the grease-lubricated film-forming mechanisms in the finite line contact and to improve the grease-lubricated finite line contact's film-forming capacity. An elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) test rig with two interferometry microscopes, which could simultaneously monitor two different contact locations in the finite line contact, was constructed in order to study the influences of the grease thickener formulation on the film thickness and lubrication condition. By using the relative light intensity method, the thickness maps of the grease-lubricated film were calculated from the interferometer images captured by the two microscopes. The test results revealed that the grease thickener's formulation had remarkable effects on film formation and the perturbation of film thickness. For the lithium-based grease, the film's thickness near the two ends of the roller was prone to severe perturbation caused by the conglomeration of clumps that were hard to shear. For the aluminum-complex-based grease, the fibers tended to accumulate in the middle of the roller rather than at the two ends. The urea-based grease could be easily sheared into smaller particles. In addition to the straight-line profile rollers, the logarithmic profile rollers were tested and found to effectively enhance the axial grease flow, increase the axial shear stress, and thus shear more fibers into particles within the contact area.

Keywords: EHL, finite line contact, grease, film thickness

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Publication history

Received: 24 April 2017
Revised: 15 August 2017
Accepted: 29 January 2018
Published: 31 May 2018
Issue date: June 2019

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© The author(s) 2018

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the twelfth five-year projects of China for science and technology under Contract D50-0109-12-001 and the Key Innovational Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. 11ZZ89). The financial supports are greatly appreciated. The authors would like to thank Dr. Qingtao Yu of Aviation Industry Corporation of China for valuable suggestions.

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