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Granular flow lubrication is developed in recent years as a new lubrication method which can be used in extreme environments, while the stick-slip mechanisms of granular flow lubrication are an urgent obstacle remains unsolved in fully establishing the granular flow lubrication theory.

A granular flow lubrication research model is constructed by the discrete element method. Using this numerical model, the mesoscopic and macroscopic responses of stick-slip that influenced by the shear velocity, and the influence of the shear velocity and the normal pressure on the vertical displacement are studied.

Research results show that movement states of granular flow lubrication medium gradually transform from the stick-slip state to the sliding state with increased shear velocity, in which these are closely related to the fluctuations of force chains and friction coefficients between granules. The stick-slip phenomenon comes up at lower shear velocity prior to the appearance of granular lift-off between the two friction pair, which comes up at higher shear velocity. Higher normal pressure restrains the dilatation of the granular flow lubrication medium, which in turn causes a decrease in the displacement.

These findings reveal the stick-slip mechanism of granular flow lubrication and can also offer the helpful reference for the design of the new granular lubrication bearing.

Granular lubrication is a new lubrication method and can be used in extreme working conditions; however, the obstacle of force transmission characteristics needs to be urgently solved to fully understand the mechanical and bearing mechanisms of granular lubrication.

A flat sliding friction cell is developed to study the force transmission behaviors of granules under shearing. Granular material, sliding velocity, granule size and granule humidity are considered in these experiments. The measured normal and shear force, which is transmitted from the bottom friction pair to the top friction pair via the granular lubrication medium, reveals the influence of these controlling parameters on the force transmission characteristics of granules.

Experimental results show that a low sliding velocity, a large granule size and a low granular humidity increase the measured normal force and shear force. Besides, a comparison experiment with other typical lubrication styles is also carried out. The force transmission under granular lubrication is mainly dependent on the force transmission path, which is closely related to the deconstruction and reconstruction of the force chains in the granule assembly.

These findings reveal the force transmission mechanism of granular lubrication and can also offer the helpful reference for the design of the new granular lubrication bearing.

Granular lubrication can solve some lubrication problems under many extreme operating conditions. Meanwhile, the flow constitutive relation is one of its unsolved problems in fully understanding its rheological mechanism.

In this paper, a plane shear cell under granular lubrication is established by the discrete element method to study the flow constitutive relation and its mechanical mechanism of the hard granular lubricants.

Research results show that the flow regimes in granular flow lubrication strongly rely on the dimensionless parameter I, in which it is called the inertial coefficient. When the inertial coefficient I increase, the flow regimes of the granular lubricants also evolve from a quasi-static state to a collisional state accordingly. Comparing to the influence of the restitution coefficient, the friction coefficient of the hard granular lubricants has a strong influence on its constitutive relation of the granular flow lubrication. Finally, it is shows that the dimensionless parameter I has strong influence on the contacts and flow states of this granular lubrication system than the influence of the dimensionless parameter R.

These findings reveal the constitutive relation and mechanical mechanism of granular lubrication and can also offer the helpful reference for the design of the new granular lubrication bearing.

Carbon steel has a high application rate in modern industry, but this type of steel has the defect of high wear. This study aims to improve the surface friction and wear performance of carbon steel under such working conditions.

In this study, a dry film lubricant based on graphite powder was prepared by the ultrasonic dispersion method, and deposited on the surface of carbon steel specimens by the simple pressure spraying technology. At the same time, molybdenum disulfide and polytetrafluoroethylene dry film lubricants were developed by the same method, and the comparative experimental study on friction and wear was carried out in the end-face friction tester.

The results show that the deposition effect of graphite and molybdenum disulfide dry film lubricants on the surface of carbon steel is obviously better than that of polytetrafluoroethylene dry film lubricant. Compared with molybdenum disulfide and polytetrafluoroethylene dry film lubricant, graphite dry film lubricant has the best friction and wear performance on the surface of carbon steel. The working life of carbon steel specimens sprayed with graphite dry film lubricant decreases with the increase of pressure load and rotation speed. The combination of load and sliding speed will accelerate the transition of the coating to a stable direction. In addition, the micro lubricant particles formed in the wear process will form particle flow lubrication, and the appropriate addition of particle powder of the same material will also prolong the normal antifriction time of the lubricant.

These findings developed a dry film lubricant that can effectively improve the friction and wear properties of carbon steel surface.

This paper aims to clarify the fluid infiltration mechanism at the micro-contact zone boundary of rubber-glass interfaces.

An in situ observation instrument was putted up; then the fluid infiltration process was recorded. Experimental results indicated that the fluid infiltration was more likely to occur in a high-contact-area-ratio zone, and the path order of fluid infiltration was first inner normal to the boundary of micro-contact area, and then along the boundary, at last external normal to the direction of boundary.

By analysis, capillary pressure is the driven force of fluid at interfaces. The micro-channel size at higher-contact-area-ratio zone is smaller, and the capillary pressure is bigger. Moreover, along different section directions of wedge-shaped region, the horizontal driving force of fluid is different due to difference of conical angle.

The main contribution of this study is proposing a new wedge-shaped model for better understanding the phenomena of fluid infiltration at rubber contact interfaces.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-10-2019-0453