Direct observation of the impact of water droplets on oil replenishment in EHD lubricated contacts

Xiang LIU; Jintao WANG; Lu HUANG; Jingyue ZHANG; Changhong XU; Lin TONG; Dan GUO

doi:10.1007/s40544-020-0466-0

Friction 2022, 10(3): 388-397 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0466-0

Research Article |

Open Access | Issue | Published: 26 January 2021

Direct observation of the impact of water droplets on oil replenishment in EHD lubricated contacts

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Xiang LIU^¹, Jintao WANG^¹, Lu HUANG^¹(

), Jingyue ZHANG^¹, Changhong XU^¹, Lin TONG^¹, Dan GUO^²(

)

1 National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Keywords:

film thickness, free water droplet, point contact, starved condition

Cite this article:

LIU X, WANG J, HUANG L, et al. Direct observation of the impact of water droplets on oil replenishment in EHD lubricated contacts. Friction, 2022, 10(3): 388-397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-020-0466-0

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Abstract Full text About this article

Abstract

Water is one of the most significant causes of lubrication failure. There is little research on the direct observation of the impact of water on lubrication properties. In this study, the influence of water on oil replenishment under different elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubricating conditions is evaluated using optical interferometry and infrared microscopy, and a dimensionless criterion when water influences the film thickness is proposed. Evidence shows that the scour displacing effect and emulsification of water/oil are the main reasons for the reduction in film thickness. Once a water droplet enters an oil reservoir around the critical contact zone, it hardly moves away. This aggravates starvation, reduces the center film thickness of the contact, and leads to lubrication failure of the mechanical components.

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Direct observation of the impact of water droplets on oil replenishment in EHD lubricated contacts

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Xiang LIU^¹, Jintao WANG^¹, Lu HUANG^¹(

), Jingyue ZHANG^¹, Changhong XU^¹, Lin TONG^¹, Dan GUO^²(

)

1 National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Keywords: film thickness, free water droplet, point contact, starved condition

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Publication history

Acknowledgements

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Publication history

Received: 15 May 2020

Revised: 26 August 2020

Accepted: 20 October 2020

Published: 26 January 2021

Issue date: March 2022

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51805505, 52075514, and 51605460).

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