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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.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of alkyl chain length and kind of anions of ionic liquids on the tribological properties with different materials as friction pairs (steel-aluminum, steel-copper and steel-Si3N4 ceramic).

Tribological properties were evaluated by an optimol-SRV-IV reciprocation friction tester with a ball-on-block configuration at room temperature and high temperature, respectively. Friction-reducing and anti-wear properties of the ionic liquids for steel/aluminum, steel/copper and steel/ceramic contacts were evaluated on the ball-on-block reciprocating UMT-2MT tribometer. The morphologies of the worn surfaces were observed by a scanning electron microscope. The chemical states of several typical elements on the worn surfaces were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Both the alkyl chain length and kind of anion influence the tribological properties of ionic liquids, especially for the length of alkyl chains. With the increase of alkyl chain length, the load carrying capacity of ionic liquids is improved at both room temperature and high temperature, and the friction reducing and antiwear behaviors are also significantly enhanced.

The paper presents potentially useful and highly efficient lubricants.

Owing to their good friction-reducing and wear resistance properties, these ionic liquids are promising candidates for versatile applications.

This work might provide a promising research direction for design and application of ionic liquids as lubricants.

The purpose of this paper is to develop new knowledge in experimental characterization of contaminants in engine lubricants, using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing that can be applicable for on‐line condition monitoring of lubricant quality and engine component performance.

The effect of change in optical properties (e.g. transparency, absorption, and refractive index) of engine lubricants caused by the introduction of contaminants, such as gasoline, coolant, and water, on the surface plasmon resonance characteristics is analyzed experimentally. In SPR measurement, variations in both the refractive index and absorption cause changes in the SPR curve, which is the dependence of reflectivity vs incidence angle. The SPR characteristics (e.g. refractivity) of engine lubricant contaminated by gasoline, water and coolant at different concentration are measured as a function of resonance angle and analyzed with respect to different concentration (1%‐10%) of contaminants. Also, pattern recognition analysis between fresh and used engine lubricants is performed, to show applicability of Bayesian classification methodology for on‐line monitoring and predicting engine lubricant condition.

It was shown experimentally that attenuation of surface plasmons due to introduction of contaminants to the engine lubricant leads to a noticeable change in resonance angle and reflectivity minimum of the SPR curve due to an increase in the dielectric permittivity. In addition, the changes in the SPR characteristics were observed between fresh and used engine lubricant, causing resonance angle and reflectivity minimum of the SPR curve to shift.

The knowledge generated in this study lays the informational basis to further develop an on‐line system for engine lubricant condition monitoring using miniaturized SPR sensors fully suitable for on board applications.

SPR characterization is originally applied for analysis of optical properties of engine lubricants caused by the introduction of contaminants, such as gasoline, coolant, and water.

Previous work has suggested that the adhesion between oil and metallic surfaces of an engine could be an important factor in determining crankcase cleanliness. It can be shown that it is only necessary to measure the spreading pressure of an oil on metal in order to get a direct measure of the work of adhesion, Surface tensions of lubrictaing oils vary very little and it can be assumed that the critical film pressure (C.F.P.) obtained with a given apparatus is an acceptable measure of the work of adhesion as well as of the spreading pressure. Oils of similar properties may vary tenfold in their C.F.P's. The addition of additives influences the spreading pressure, the largest increments in C.F.P. being given by dispersant and detergent additives.

The purpose of this paper is to design the crown‐type phosphate ionic liquid additive which can dissolve in poly(ethylene glycol) (shortened to PEG) completely, and evaluate the tribological properties as additive in PEG for steel/steel contacts.

To improve the solubility and the tribological performance of ionic liquid additive in PEG, the crown‐type phosphate ionic liquid additive was prepared. The tribological properties of the crown‐type phosphate ionic liquid additive in PEG were evaluated at different concentrations and rubbing frequencies on an Optimol SRV oscillating friction and wear tester. The morphology and chemical compounds of the wear scars were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

The experimental results show that the crown‐type phosphate ionic liquid additive applied in based oil exhibits better tribological properties for steel/steel contacts at different loads, concentrations and rubbing frequencies. It could improve the anti‐wear ability and reduce the friction coefficients as the increased concentration. By the SEM and XPS analysis, it is found that there were the effective boundary lubricant films in the worn surface. The boundary films were composed of various tribochemical products, ferric oxide, ferric phosphate and pyrophosphate, together with the absorbed films.

Compared with the poor miscibility of some ionic liquid in PEG, the crown‐type phosphate ionic liquid additive can dissolve in PEG perfectly. It can improve the anti‐wear ability and reduce the friction coefficient of PEG at different concentrations and rubbing frequencies.

Through practical tests, it has been found that steel balls based on different standards could affect tribological performances of the same lubricant, but unfortunately, past researches in the field have been quite inadequate. The aim of this paper, therefore, is conscientiously to study the problem.

The anti‐wear properties of four kinds of lubricants were evaluated by four‐ball tester using two kinds of steel balls based on different standards. The reason for different anti‐wear properties of the same lubricant was also discussed using hardness tester and scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM/EDS).

It was found that steel balls based on different standards could affect the tribological results for the same lubricant. The reason could lie in the surface chemical composition, surface roughness and hardness of steel balls which originated from the subtle difference of different standards.

The paper shows that, as far as evaluating anti‐wear properties is concerned, steel ball based on AISI Standard Steel No. E‐52100 is a better choice than that based on Chinese standard GB 308.

The main types of fluid film bearing, irrespective of lubricant, are those relying on surface motion to generate the fluid film pressure and hence load capacity (hydrodynamic lubrication—or aerodynamic for gases), and those relying on an external supply of pressurized lubricant (hydrostatic or aerostatic lubrication). A bearing employing a mixture of the two lubrication modes is said to be hybrid. A special case of self‐acting bearings is the squeeze film bearing in which fluid pressure is generated due to the normal motion of the bearing surfaces. Particular bearing geometries will not be discussed.

INCREASING OPERATING TEMPERATURES are a characteristic trend in the development of many modern machines. Sometimes they are merely a consequence of progress in other directions, such as more compact design and higher operating speeds for lighter weight ; at other times the trend is deliberate for example to improve the efficiency of a cycle or to reduce the cooling requirement.

This paper aims to examine the friction coefficient and wear rate characteristics of SCM 440 bearing steel used in the cylinder block of a tractor engine with gas lubrication and oil lubrication.

Friction tests were performed using a pin-on-disc tester with loads of 2 to 10 N and sliding velocities of 0.06 to 0.34 m/s. The experiment was done with and without nitrogen, and paraffin oil lubricant was used to prevent wear during process.

The nondimensional characteristic number from the Stribeck curves indicated that the lubrication regime is hydrodynamic. As the velocity and load increased, the friction coefficient of the SCM 440 increased and greater applied load resulted in a smaller friction coefficient. The range of the friction coefficient was 0.017001 to 0.092904 with paraffin oil lubrication and 0.01614 to 0.4555 with nitrogen lubrication. Nitrogen is effective in reducing the friction coefficient of materials that are in contact and subjected to a load and velocity.

The experiments confirm that nitrogen is effective for reducing the friction coefficient of SCM 440 materials that are in contact with each other and subjected to a load and velocity.

The factors governing the flow properties of grease are discussed with particular reference to the RN multipurpose grease XG‐274 and the soft lime‐base grease LG‐380. Results obtained at 70°F using a pumping rig with pipes of ½ inch, ¾ inch or ¼ inch external diameter are presented in terms of apparent viscosity in line with the procedure approved by the National Lubricating Grease Institute. The data can be used to assess the suitability of systems proposed for dispensing the greases, supplemented where necessary by apparent viscosity measurement by Standard Method ASTM‐D 1092.