Bearings today need to be able to run at very high speed, providing high positional accuracy for the structure that it supports, and requiring very little or no maintenance. For this to happen, bearings must have tight tolerances and very low or zero friction during operation. This pushes many traditional contact-type bearings to their limits as they often fail due to friction, generating heat and causing wear. By comparison, existing non-contact bearings fare better because of their very low or zero friction. But some have their own problem too. For example, the fact that aerostatic bearings require an air supply means having to use a separate air compressor and connecting hoses. This makes the installation bulky. Aerodynamic and hydrodynamic bearings cannot support loads at zero speed. Both hydrodynamic and hydrostatic bearings may cause contamination to the work-pieces and the work environment because of the use of lubricating fluid. A potential solution to the above-mentioned problems is the new squeeze film air bearing. It works on the rapid squeeze action of an air film to produce separation between two metal surfaces. This has the benefit of being compact with a very simple configuration because it does not require an external pressurized air supply, can support loads at zero speed and is free of contamination. For this research, two squeeze film air journal bearings, made from material of Al 2024 - T3 and Cu - C101 with the same geometry, were designed. The bearing is in the shape of a round tube with three fins on the outer surface and the journal, a round rod. When excited at a certain normal mode, the bearing shell flexes with a desirable modal shape for the squeeze film action. The various modes of vibration of Al bearing were obtained from a finite-element model implemented in ANSYS. Two Modes, the 13th and 23rd, at the respective frequencies of 16.320 kHz and 25.322 kHz, were identified for further investigation by experiments with respect to the squeeze film thickness and its load-carrying capacity. For Cu bearing, the two Modes are also 13th and 23rd at the respective frequencies of 12.184 kHz and 18.459 kHz. In order to produce dynamic deformation of the bearings at their modes, a single layer piezoelectric actuator was used as a driver. The maximum stroke length and the maximum blocking force of the single layer piezoelectric actuator were determined using manual calculation and ANSYS simulation. In the coupled-field analysis, the single layer piezoelectric actuator was mounted on the outside surface of the bearing shell and loaded with an AC and a DC voltage in order to produce the static and dynamic deformation. For the static analysis, the maximum deformation of Al bearing shell is 0.124 μm when the actuators are driven at the DC of 75 V. For the dynamic analysis, the actuators are driven at three levels of AC, namely 55, 65 and 75V with a constant DC offset of 75V and the driving frequency coincided with the modal frequency of the bearing. The maximum dynamic deformation of Al bearing shell is 3.22μm at Mode 13 and 2.08μm at Mode 23 when the actuators were driven at the AC of 75 V and the DC of 75 V. Similarly, the FEA simulation was used for analyzing Cu bearing. Furthermore, the dynamic deformation of both Al and Cu bearing at Mode 13 and 23 are validated by experiments. This research developed two theoretical models that explain the existence of a net pressure in a squeeze film for the levitation. The first model uses the ideal gas law as first approximation whilst the second uses the CFX simulation to provide a more exact explanation. In terms of the load-carrying capacity, Mode 13 was identified to be better than Mode 23 for both bearings. However, at Mode 13, Al bearing has a higher load-carrying capacity than Cu bearing. This is due to Al bearing having a higher modal frequency and amplitude. Finally, the coupled-field analysis for fluid solid interaction (FSI) was studied at both Mode 13 and 23 for Al bearing. The findings are that: a) the fluid force in the squeeze film can affect the dynamic deformation of the bearing shell, especially at high oscillation frequency, more at Mode 13 than at Mode 23 due to the relatively high pressure end-leakage in the latter; b) the dynamic deformation of the bearing shell increases with the gap clearance in a logarithmic manner at Mode 13; and c) the micron levels of gap clearance provide a damping effect on the dynamic deformation of the bearing shell at Mode 13 and at Mode 23, though much less dominant.

This thesis investigates the underlying causes of friction and ine ciency within an internal combustion engine, focusing on the ring-liner conjunction in the vicinity of the power-stroke top dead centre reversal. In such lubricated contacts, friction is the result of the interplay between numerous kinetics, with those at micro- and nano-scale interactions being signi cantly di erent than the ones at larger scales. A modi ed Elrod's cavitation algorithm is developed to determine the microscopic tribological characteristics of the piston ring-liner contact. Predicting lubricant tran- sient behaviour is critical when the inlet reversal leads to thin lms and inherent metal-to-metal interaction. The model clearly shows that cavitation at the trailing edge of the ring-liner contact generated pre-reversal, persists after reversal and pro- motes starvation and depletion of the oil lm. Hence, this will lead to boundary friction. A fractal based boundary friction model is developed for lightly loaded asperity con- tacts, separated by diminishing small lms, usually wetted by a layer of molecules adsorbed to the tips of the asperities. In nano-scale conjunctions, a lubricant layering e ect often takes place due to the smoothness of surfaces, which is governed by the surface and lubricant properties. A molecularly thin layer of lubricant molecules can adhere to the asperities, being the last barrier against direct surface contact. As a result, boundary friction (prevailing in such diminishing gaps) is actually determined by a combination of shearing of a thin adsorbed lm, adhesion of approaching as- perities and their plastic deformation. A model for physio-chemical hydrodynamic mechanism is successfully established, describing the formation of thin adsorbed lms between asperities. This model is e ectively integrated with separately devel- oped models that predict the adhesive and plastic contact of asperities.

Slow speed rotating machines are the mainstay of several industrial applications worldwide. They can be found in paper and steel mills, rotating biological contractors, wind turbines etc. Operational experience of such machinery has not only revealed the early design problems but has also presented opportunities for further significant improvements in the technology and economics of the machines. Slow speed rotating machinery maintenance, mostly related to bearings, shafts and gearbox problems, represents the cause of extended outages. Rotating machinery components such as gearboxes, shafts and bearings degrade slowly with operating time. Such a slow degradation process can be identified if a robust on-line monitoring and predictive maintenance technology is used to detect impending problems and allow repairs to be scheduled. To keep machines functioning at optimal levels, failure detection of such vital components is important as any mechanical degradation or wear, if is not impeded in time, will often progress to more serious damage affecting the operational performance of the machine. This requires far more costly repairs than simply replacing a part. Over the last few years there have been many developments in the use of Acoustic Emission (AE) technology and its analysis for monitoring the condition of rotating machinery whilst in operation, particularly on slow speed rotating machinery. Unlike conventional technologies such as thermography, oil analysis, strain measurements and vibration, AE has been introduced due to its increased sensitivity in detecting the earliest stages of loss of mechanical integrity. This programme of research involves laboratory tests for monitoring slow speed rotating machinery components (shafts and bearings) using AE technology. To implement this objective, two test rigs have been designed to assess the capability of AE as an effective tool for detection of incipient defects within low speed machine components (e.g. shafts and bearings). The focus of the experimental work will be on the initiation and growth of natural defects. Further, this research work investigates the source characterizations of AE signals associated with such bearings whilst in operation. It is also hoped that at the end of this research program, a reliable on-line monitoring scheme used for slow speed rotating machinery components can be developed.

The elastohydrodynamic lubrication regime (EHD) is found in many machine elements, such as rolling element bearings, gears, cam/tappet, where a combination of hydrodynamic effect, elastic deformation of the surfaces and an increase of the lubricant’s viscosity with pressure create a continuous lubricant film which is capable of supporting pressures of the order of tens of thousands of atmospheres. One of the most important features of these films is their thickness, as this determines whether the bounding surfaces are completely separated, thus avoiding premature wear and failure of the contact. Consequently for many years scientists were interested in finding methods for measuring the lubricant film thickness in elastohydrodynamic conditions. One of the most versatile and widely used techniques for measuring lubricant film thickness in EHD contacts is the optical interferometry method. Apart from numerous advantages, this method has the limitation in the fact that one of the contacting surfaces must be transparent, usually glass or sapphire, thus it does not replicate real conditions found in machine elements contacts. On the other hand, the other group of methods used for studying the behaviour of elastohydrodynamic films includes a variety of electrical methods. Historically, these appeared before the optical methods, but gradually lost importance with the success of the later. Most capacitive, resistive, inductance methods developed so far use specially designed sensors for monitoring the lubricant film thickness. In the case of electrical techniques, both elements of the contact are metallic, which means that these can be used for measuring film thickness in real machine elements. One of the main disadvantages of electrical methods though, is the difficulty with which the calibration of various electrical quantities, against lubricant film thickness is obtained. This thesis describes the work carried out by the author on the application of a capacitive method for studying lubrication of elastohydrodynamic contacts. The novelty of the method used consists in the calibration of the capacitance of the contact with optical interferometry. This project started from the premises that a thicker Chromium layer will supply the phase change needed to precisely measure the lubricant film thickness by eliminating the fragile silica layer, and it has been shown that an increase in Cr thickness results in a increase in reflection of the glass–Cr interface making the resulting images hard to process. Modifications to the existing experimental rig were carried out in order to apply/collect an electrical signal from both the disc and the ball. Signal collection from the disc was quite straightforward and a graphite brush paired with a copper nut was used, as this is the oldest method of collecting/applying and electrical signal from a rotating element. Collecting an electrical signal from the ball presented quite a challenge as the ball is submerged in oil. A number of brushes was designed, made and tested and the one that provided the most stable results chosen. For calibration purposes a base oil and two additives were chosen, the additives were chosen in such a way that the improvement made to the lubrication process to be very different from one additive to the other. The chosen additives were a Viscosity Index Improver [VII] and an Organic Friction Modifier [OFM]. The VII is used by many researchers in order to obtain multigrade lubricants using the same base oil by varying its percentage in the mix. The OFM is used to provide protection between the two contacting bodies when EHD film fails and EHD lubrication is replaced by mixed lubrication by forming a boundary layer on the contacting surfaces. Optical measurements were carried out on the base oil and the two resulting lubricants from the additive mixes using the Ultra Thin Film Interferometry [UTFI] method. The measurements were used as a benchmark against which the capacitive measurements were calibrated. Tests were conducted in a number of controlled conditions for speed, temperature, load and sliding conditions. Results showed that the highest influence on the lubrication process was given by the speed, an increase in speed results in an increase in optically measured film thickness and a decrease in electrically measured film thickness. Phenomenon explained by a large amount of lubricant pushed into the contact. Another parameter that influenced the results quite significantly was temperature, a rise in temperature supplies a decrease in optically measured film thickness and an increase in capacitive measured film thickness which was explained by lubricant viscosity dropping with a rise in temperature. Three different sliding conditions were employed and a small drop in optically measured film thickness followed by a small rise in electrically measured film thickness was recorded due to a local increase in contact temperature when sliding was employed. The capacitive method developed in this project is precise enough to accurately measure lubricant film thickness down to 100nm; a model for thicknesses lower that 100nm was proposed Results from the optical and capacitive methods were compared and a good correlation was found, indicating that the developed capacitive method can be used as a tool for measuring metal on metal contacts without further calibration.

Contact fatigue damages resulting either from static or dynamic contact are of interest for understanding the failure modes and mechanisms leading to improvement of the components’ performances in tribological applications. The objective of this research was to ascertain how and to what extent the counterface materials, loading conditions, contact configuration, lubrication, and the environment affect the failure behaviours of material under static and dynamic contact fatigue loading. An experimental ball-on-flat test configuration was employed for both static and dynamic contact fatigue testing. In house designed test rig was used to study static cyclic loading contact fatigue behaviours of brittle polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in contact with balls made of different materials, i.e. Si3N4, steel, aluminium, bronze and PMMA in dry and oil-lubricated conditions. A modified four ball test machine was used to study dynamic rolling contact fatigue behaviours of thermally sprayed molybdenum and titanium coatings in contact with steel balls in dry and seawater conditions. The static contact fatigue and the dynamic contact fatigue test results revealed that counterface material, loading magnitude, lubricant and the environment play a vital role in controlling failure modes and the extent of damage. In static contact fatigue, adhesive strength of the interface was the key factor controlling damage of the PMMA plate in both dry and oil-lubricated conditions. In dry conditions, three failure modes, i.e. adhesive wear, ring cracks, and radial cracks controlled the damage of PMMA to a different degree for each combination of materials. Whereas, the damage of each combination in oil-lubricated conditions was affected by the extent of three failure modes, i.e. adhesive wear, radial cracks and abrasive wear. In dynamic contact fatigue tests, adhesive wear and inter-lamellar cracking were the major failure modes controlling damage of molybdenum coating and titanium coating in dry contact conditions while abrasive wear, corrosion and lubrication controlled damage processes in seawater conditions.

No description available.

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Continuous design and improvements in performance of roller bearings have resulted in an increased power transmission whilst size and spatial requirements have been reduced. Radial cylindrical roller bearings have followed this trend and due to their high performance characteristics (such as high loading capacity and high rotational speed capabilities), they have obtained a firm place as high performance machine elements. An essential characteristic of a radial cylindrical roller bearing is the minimisation of frictional torque for particular operating conditions. In spite of these improvements in design and operation the bearing frictional torque is still usually calculated according to the Palmgren method first published in 1957. However, as a result of the increased performance of radial cylindrical roller bearings and a corresponding wider range of application this Palmgren method is insufficiently accurate for the prediction of frictional torques in modern bearings. Whilst the literature review in this thesis identified a variety of bearing frictional torque calculation methods, most of these methods are based on various ball bearing designs and are not necessarily applicable to cylindrical roller bearings types. As a result an accurate frictional torque prediction method is required for radial cylindrical roller bearings because of customer's demands. Consequently, the current project is combined with the development of a method of frictional torque prediction (FTP - Method), which enables the frictional torque of purely radially and radially and axially loaded radial cylindrical roller bearings to be calculated accurately. The FTP - Method is based on the physical effects producing the frictional torque in a bearing, such as the EHL - theory and a contact analysis to determine raceway rolling resistance, and in addition takes into account the frictional forces of the rib / rolling element end face rolling and sliding contact. Comprehensive experimental tests have been undertaken on different radial cylindrical roller bearing designs (including cage guided and full complement types) for a minimum of three different sizes to validate the derived equations. Good agreement was obtained between the predictions according to the FTP - Method and the measured test data for the frictional torqye of both radially and combined loaded bearings. Moreover, the thermal reference speed and the thermal limiting speed of a radial cylindrical roller bearing can be readily calculated for any operating condition using an explicit equation in the radial part of the FTP - Method. The thesis also presents a calculation program to illustrate a method of bearing design based on the thermal balance within a bearing. The bearing is initially pre-selected according to its life time requirements using a life time calculation. After the lubrication method has been defined a thermal balance can be used to design the bearing.

International standards require lubricant formulators to develop additive packages that increase fuel economy, reduce environmental impact and minimise wear over ever increasing service intervals. However, additive behaviour and interactions between additives is not well understood. An absence of real-time technology has hindered understanding of additive behaviour and interaction between additives in tribo-contacts. The work presented in this thesis assessed whether electrostatic charge monitoring, which is sensitive to changes in surface chemistry, can offer insight into additive-surface behaviour and how this affects tribological performance. Electrostatic sensors were deployed on tribological test apparatus used to simulate: engine valve-train, manual transmission synchroniser and automatic transmission clutch tribo-contacts. Additive performance in these simulated contacts was assessed by electrostatic surface charge measurements and cross-correlated with friction, wear and off-line surface chemistry analysis. The first study involved electrostatic monitoring of valve-train contacts, which was a continuation of previous electrostatic monitoring work carried out to relate wear and electrostatic charge. During a simulated TU3 cam-follower wear test, charge signals underwent a sign inversion; this was due to a transition between tribocharging of the lubricant under running-in and mild wear, and contact potential difference generated at the onset and progression of adhesive wear. It was found that charge signals differed between different oils, which could not be explained by the wear performance alone; this indicated that lubricant chemistry significantly affected charge generation. Dynamic charge peaks produced by simulated valve-train contacts lubricated with zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZnDTP) additive were related to the stripping of the tribofilm. The source of this charge peak was an increase in negative charge, which correlated with a dominance of phosphate and sulphate (anions) compared to zinc (cations), as the film was worn away. When friction modifier (FM) and dispersant additives were combined to lubricate a simulated wet clutch contact, x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis and friction data indicated that the dispersant dominated the tribofilm composition; evidenced by nitrogen levels and friction levels similar to the dispersant alone. Electrostatic charge data showed that competition for surface sites is an extremely dynamic process; as indicated by charge levels which alternated between the levels of the FM and dispersant alone. When a potassium borate additive was added to a polysulphide additive containing oil during testing (seeding), the charge data showed a transition from being predominantly positive to predominantly negative. This correlated with the formation of a borate rich (anions) layer on top of the sulphur film. Further novel tribological discoveries were found through investigation into these additive-surface charge behaviours. An underdeveloped ZnDTP tribofilm, which predominantly contained sulphur, was formed at room temperature; the sulphur promoted tribochemical wear and resulted in a pro-wear affect for primary ZnDTP. The combination of FM and dispersant showed a clear antagonism resulting in increased wear compared to the individual additives. XPS of brass and steel simulated synchroniser contacts lubricated with potassium borate and polysulphide identified the affect of surface chemistry on film formation. For the potassium borate additive: potassium (cation) preferentially adsorbed to brass, and borate (anion) preferentially adsorbed to steel. Seeding the borate additive into the oil, and therefore the contact, produced the same film composition and structure as the combination from the start. This inferred that the polysulphide additive drove initial film formation. Seeding is an extremely powerful technique, but its use is almost absent in the literature. It has been shown that lubricant chemistry dominates charge levels even in a wearing contact. Electrostatic monitoring is sensitive to the type of additive-surface adsorption and interaction between additive and additive or contaminant. Also, cross-correlation of surface charge and tribofilm chemical composition demonstrated that electrostatic sensors have the ability to detect tribofilm kinematics. This is a significant finding; no current real-time technique used to monitor tribofilm kinematics derives its measurements from the tribofilm composition. Although interpretation of electrostatic charge data is currently an intensive process, in the long term, lubricant development could see a move towards charge informed formulation.

La lubrification eX-Poro-HydroDynamique (XPHD) est un mécanisme de lubrification d’inspiration biomimétique. Il s’agit principalement d’un écoulement dans un milieu poreux, dont la phase solide représentée par des fibres, induit des forces élastiques de compression considérées comme négligeables par rapport aux forces hydrodynamiques générées à l’intérieur du milieu poreux. L’idée essentielle de la lubrification XPHD consiste en remplacement du matériau antifriction et du film de fluide mince, traditionnellement utilisé dans les solutions classiques, par une couche poreuse imbibée d’un fluide qui fournit plus grande capacité de charge. Ce type de lubrification représente une solution technologique totalement nouvelle (en rupture avec la solution classique) qui peut permettre de remplacer les lubrifiants pétroliers, de créer des systèmes tribologiques autolubrifiants et donc plus écologiques et moins coûteux. Ce travail de recherche est donc focalisé sur l’évolution des performances de la lubrification XPHD dans le cadre d’un mouvement tangentiel, adapté à l’étude de butées pour faible et moyenne vitesses de rotation. Dans ce contexte scientifique, une étude approfondie d’un matériau poreux présélectionné (mousse en polyuréthane) fut réalisée avec le but de déterminer les caractéristiques physiques et les paramètres cruciaux pour la lubrification XPHD: la porosité et la perméabilité du matériau poreux. Les modèles théorique et numérique de lubrification XPHD proposés se basent sur l’équation de Darcy-Brinkman et les hypothèses de la lubrification classique, ainsi que l’écoulement à l’intérieur du milieu poreux sont prédit avec une nouvelle forme de l’équation de Reynolds. Le banc d’essais spécialement développé permet d’étudier expérimentalement le mécanisme de lubrification XPHD pour des différents types de dislocateur en combinaison avec des liquides newtoniens et nonnewtoniens. Une description détaillée du banc d’essais et de tous les dispositifs expérimentaux utilisés ainsi que la comparaison des résultats de modélisation et des résultats expérimentaux sont présentés. / The eX-Poro-HydroDynamic (XPHD) lubrication is a new biomimetic inspired lubrication mechanism. It consists of self-sustained fluid films generated within highly compressible porous layers imbibed with liquids, whose solid phase represented by fibers, induces compressive elastic forces considered negligible compared to the hydrodynamic forces generated inside the porous medium. The essential idea of XPHD lubrication is to replace the antifriction material and the thin fluid film, traditionally used for classical sliding motion, with a porous layer imbibed with a fluid that provides a greater load capacity. This type of lubrication represents a completely new technological solution (in rupture with the classical one) that can replace petroleum lubricants, create self-lubricating and therefore more ecological and less expensive tribological systems. This research work is focused on the evolution of XPHD lubrication performances in the context of a tangential movement, adapted to the study of thrust bearing for low and medium rotation speeds. In this scientific context, a thorough study of a preselected porous material (polyurethane foam) was carried out with the aim of determining the physical characteristics and the crucial parameters for XPHD lubrication: the porosity and the permeability of the porous material. The theoretical and numerical models of the XPHD lubrication proposed are based on the Darcy-Brinkman equation and the classical lubrication hypothesis, as well as the flow within the porous media is predicted with a new form of the Reynolds equation. The specially developed test rig is used to investigate experimentally the mechanism of the XPHD lubrication for different types of thrust bearing in combination with Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids. A detailed description of the test rig and all used experimental devices, as well the comparison between the experimental and numerical results are presented.