Séminaire LTDS (présentiel - École Centrale) : An energy loss approach to evaluate lubricants in the boundary lubrication regime

Présenté par : Satish V. Kailas
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

Résumé au format pdf

Stribeck curve is possibly the most important curve for a lubrication engineer. The curve has the boundary lubrication regime in which the asperities of the two surfaces come in contact, increasing the friction (not sure). The boundary lubrication regime occurs when the speeds are low, the lubricant's viscosity is low, or contact pressures are high. Understanding the behavior of the lubricant in the boundary lubrication regime is essential as damage to the tribosurfaces occurs in this regime.

Using a new "lateral-force controlled" tribometer, we measure the energy loss during sliding with a high resolution. The tribometer is such that it works (in the present case) in the boundary lubrication regime. Experiments were done with different fatty acids. The results show that the machine picked up the subtle changes in the capability of the fatty acids to lubricate the surfaces. Results on six other commercial lubricants (of unknown formulation) will be also be presented.