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LONG before man learnt to make fire by the friction of wood, he experienced the burden of friction in dragging home his kill. Perhaps it is not too fanciful to suppose that the torn sides of his beast gave the first solid lubricant. Blood and mutton fat were seriously recommended as lubricants for church bell trunnions as recently as the 17th century. Indoed we still reckon fatty acids the best of all boundary lubricants. The range of man's activities has increased enormously in the present century, and particularly in the last few decades. Men have circled the earth in space; a space ship is on its way to examine another planet; terrestrial man is boring to the bottom of the earth's crust; others have descended to the depths of the ocean, and oven established a home on the floor of the Mediterranean, Speeds have increased by factors of thousands, temperatures range from near absolute zero to thousands of degrees; and a new environment of high‐intensity nuclear radiation has been created. Still, objects must move over and along each other in these exotic conditions; and to a large extent solid lubricants can provide the answer to the frictional problems.

This study aims to investigate the microtopography transformation at a low-speed heavy-load interface with the lubrication of powder particles and its nonlinear friction effect on the sliding pair in contact.

Based on the universal mechanical tester (UMT) tribometer and VK shape-measuring laser microscope, comparative friction experiments were conducted with graphite powder lubrication. The friction coefficient with nonlinear fluctuations and the three-dimensional morphology of the boundary layer at the interface were observed and analyzed under different operating conditions. The effects on lubrication mechanisms and frictional nonlinearity at the sliding pair were focused on under different surface roughness and powder layer thickness conditions.

At a certain external load and sliding speed, the initial specimen surface with an appropriate initial roughness and powder thickness can store and bond the powder lubricant to form a boundary film readily. The relatively flat and firm boundary layer of powder at the microscopic interface can reduce the coefficient of friction and suppress its nonlinear fluctuation effectively. Therefore, proper surface roughness and powder layer thickness are beneficial to the graphite lubrication and stability maintenance of a friction pair.

This research is conducive to developing a deep understanding of the microtopography transformation with frictional nonlinearity at a low-speed heavy-load interface with graphite powder lubrication.

OILS and greases are in many ways excellent lubricants. In fact, it is difficult to envisage modern industry without them. There are, however, a number of applications where the presence of oil or other petroleum lubricants, gives rise to serious operational problems. One of these applications is the lubrication of Steam Cylinders.

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.

In this article K. Feneberger brings this important subject up to date. He suggests that users of graphite for lubrication purposes should be careful what they buy. “In many cases” he says “the powder is accepted by a manufacturer on little more than a code number, at most an approximate ash content and an average particle size distribution”. There is far more to it than that.

Phosphating mild steel causes the surface to be etched into a network of microscopic channels 0.0004 to 0.0008 in. deep, the phosphate crystals being located on the intervening high spots. With this type of surface, running‐in is both rapid and safe and low friction conditions are soon established. The phosphate crystals do not act as a solid lubricant in the same sense as graphite or M0S2; initial friction is higher and final friction is much lower. Friction of MoS2, for example decreases with rubbing by a factor of 4, from 0.2 to 0.05, whereas the friction of phosphated steel decreased by a factor of 60, from 0.3 to 0.005. In addition, the final friction of the run‐in phosphated surface depended on temperature and pressure in a manner characteristic of ‘thin film’ fluid lubrication, not ‘boundary’ or ‘solid’ lubrication.

THIS PAPER deals with two aspects of the frictional and wear properties of graphite and molybdenum disulphide :—

The CL60 steel wheels of subway vehicles operating on specific lines require frequent refurbishment due to rapid wear and tear. Considering this issue, MoS₂-based and graphite-based solid lubricants are used to reduce the wear rate of subway wheels and extend their service life.

Under laboratory conditions, the effect of MoS₂-based and graphite-based solid lubricants on the friction and wear performance of subway wheels and rails was evaluated using a modified GPM-60 wear testing machine.

Under laboratory conditions, MoS₂-based solid lubricants have the best effect in reducing wheel/rail wear, compared to the control group without lubrication, at 2 × 105 revolutions, the total wheel-rail wear decreased by 95.07%. However, when three types of solid lubricants are used separately, the hardness evolution of the wheel-rail contact surface exhibits different characteristics.

The research results provide important support for improving the lifespan of wheel and rail, extending the service cycle of wheel and rail, reducing the operating costs of subway systems, improving the safety of subway systems and providing wear reduction maintenance for other high wear mechanical components.

The experiment was conducted through the design and modification of a GPM-60 testing machine for wear testing. The experiment simulated the wheel-rail contact situation under actual subway operation and evaluated the effects of three different solid lubricants, MoS₂-based and graphite-based, on the wear performance and surface hardening evolution of subway wheel-rail.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the sliding wear response of a cast iron as influenced by applied load and changing concentration of solid lubricant (graphite) particles in oil lubricant, and operating material removal mechanisms in different sets of experimental conditions.

The sliding wear response of a grey cast iron has been examined as a function of test environment and load. Properties evaluated were wear rate, friction coefficient and frictional heating. The wear behaviour of the samples has been substantiated through the characteristics of their wear surfaces, subsurface regions and debris particles.

The wear rate and frictional heating increased with load while friction coefficient was affected in an opposite manner. The presence of oil lubricant led to a substantial improvement in wear response (in terms of decreasing wear rate, friction coefficient and frictional heating) while the presence of graphite particles in the oil lubricant proved to be still better. A critical content of graphite in the oil lubricant becomes most effective towards improving the wear response of the samples. Formation of dark patches on the wear surface, substantial subsurface deformation and fine debris led to improved wear response.

The study enables one to understand the wear behaviour of a cast iron as influenced by the changing concentration of solid lubricant (graphite) particles in the oil lubricant. It also enables one to understand the operating material removal mechanisms responsible for the observed wear characteristics of the samples under varying test conditions. The investigation helps one to see that only a critical concentration of the solid lubricant particles in oil can lead to the best wear performance of materials.

From a practical standpoint, the observations made here gain importance from the fact that solid lubricants are added frequently in oil in engineering applications but it becomes imperative to understand that only a critical concentration can lead to the best wear behaviour of materials.

The reason I gave the name Contact Lubrication to cover the action of lamellar solids is that I do not think they can be fairly classified as boundary lubricants whose adsorptive and film strength properties are indigenious to the lubricant. At best, adsorptive forces provide temporary attachment of particle to sliding surface before the particles are mechanically worked in.