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This paper aims to study and compare the friction stability of wet paper-based clutches with regard to the radial grooves (RG) and waffle grooves (WG).

This paper presents an experimental study of a wet clutch concerning the effect of groove patterns on the friction torque and surface temperature. The friction stabilities of RG and WG are investigated with the applied pressure, rotating speed and automatic transmission fluid (ATF) temperature taken into consideration.

The friction torque and surface temperature of WG are larger than those of RG under the same operating condition. The friction torque difference between RG and WG grows with the increase of applied pressure and narrows with the increase of ATF temperature. Additionally, their temperature difference expands via increasing the rotating speed and ATF temperature or reducing the applied pressure; in this way, not only the variable coefficient difference between RG and WG can be narrowed, but also the friction stability of the clutch can be improved dramatically.

This paper explains the thermodynamic differences between RG and WG; moreover, it is verified experimentally that WG has a better friction stability than RG.

To gain in-depth understandings of engaging characteristics, the purpose of this paper is to improve the model of wet clutches to predict the transmitted torque during the engagement process.

The model of wet clutch during the engagement process took main factors into account, such as the centrifugal effect of lubricant, permeability of friction material, slippage factor of lubricant on contact surface and roughness of contact surface. Reynolds’ equation was derived to describe the hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of lubricant film between the friction plate and the separated plate, and an elastic-plastic model of the rough surfaces contact based on the finite element analysis was used to indicate the loading force and friction torque of the contact surface.

The dynamic characteristics of wet clutch engagement time, relative speed, hydrodynamic lubrication of lubricating oil, rough surface contact load capacity and transfer torque can be obtained by the wet clutch engagement model. And the influence of the groove shape and depth on the engaging characteristics is also analyzed.

The mathematical model of the wet clutch during the engagement process can be used to predict the engaging characteristics of the wet clutch which could be useful to the design of the wet clutch.

The purpose of this paper is to reduce the drag loss and study the effects of operating conditions and groove parameters such as flow rate and temperature of automatic transmission fluid, clearance between plates, groove depth and groove ratio on the drag torque of a wet clutch for vehicles, parametric analysis of the drag torque model of wet multi-plate friction clutch with groove consideration.

Both experimental and numerical research was carried out in this work. Parametric groove models, full film lubrication flow model and pressure distribution model are established to investigate the effects of the grooves on drag torque of a wet clutch. Multigrid method is used to simplify the solution.

In this paper, a drag torque model of a wet multi-plate friction clutch based on the basic theory of viscous fluid dynamics is examined through experimental and numerical methods that take grooves into account, and the change trend of drag torque with operating conditions and groove parameters is analyzed.

Multigrid method is used to solve the governing equations, which simplifies the solution process because of the restrictions and interpolation operations between the adjacent layers of coarser and fine grids. These works provide insight into the effect regularity of operating conditions and groove parameters on drag torque of a wet multi-plate friction clutch. Furthermore, variable test conditions and sufficient experimental data are the main functions in the experimental research.

This paper aims to explore the effect of automatic transmission fluid (ATF) temperature on the dynamic friction-wear properties of the friction component in a wet multi-disc clutch during the running-in process.

The running-in evolution was explored in terms of global friction performance and instantaneous friction characteristics. The variation of friction torque of the initial 300 engagement cycles was obtained by wet-clutch tests. Finally, an optical microscope was used to detect the wear mechanism of friction surfaces.

The ATF temperature showed a significant effect on the friction-wear performance in the clutch running-in process. The mean coefficient of friction decreased with the increase of the ATF temperature and decreased rapidly in the approximately initial 60 clutch engagements. The higher the ATF temperature was, the thinner the ATF film was, and more asperity summits were cut, thus leading to a smoother surface. Considering the slightly instantaneous friction fluctuation and the wear performance, a proper ATF temperature is necessary.

The results provide theoretical guidance for selecting the optimal ATF temperature during the running-in process.

This paper aims to explore the influence of applied pressure on the tribological properties of the friction component in a wet multi-disc clutch during the running-in process.

The running-in evolutionary was explored in terms of global friction performance. The variation of friction torque and mean COF of the initial 300 engagement cycles was obtained by full-scale tests. Finally, an optical microscope was used to detect the wear characteristics of friction surfaces.

The applied pressure showed a significant influence on the tribological behaviors of wet clutches during the running-in process. The mean COF decreased and then increases with the increase of the applied pressure. A higher applied pressure contributed to more asperity summits being sheared, thus resulting in a smoother surface. Considering a suitable wore performance, properly applied pressure is necessary.

The results provide theoretical guidance for selecting the optimal applied pressure in the running-in of wet clutches.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2022-0256/

The purpose of this study is to investigate wet multi-disc brake temperature field and optimal oil supply under continuous braking condition. The oil supply of wet multi-disc brake has a direct impact on the drivability and fuel economy for tracked vehicles. Too small flow will result in the higher temperature and failure of brake while excessive one will lead to slow engagement increasing disengaged torque and the transmission efficiency could decline notably. The optimal oil supply and brake temperature field were obtained in this research.

This article investigated on the heat dissipation capability and optimal oil supply of the brake by the means of CFX model. The working condition was continuous braking and the lubricating and cooling factors were included in the model.

That the complex trends with increased oil flow is inconsistent with the traditional formula in which the effects of grooves were neglected. The fitting curve of optimal oil supply can predict various needed oil flow in various rotating speed and it provides a theoretical guidance for oil supply design.

Traditional empirical formula of heat transfer coefficient and Reynolds equation solved by different methods could be difficult to deal with the complex boundary conditions of wet multi-disc brake. CFX model can solve the problem of complex boundary condition. The optimal oil supply curve can provide a theoretical guidance for oil supply design.

Friction pairs of the hydro-viscous drive speed regulating start device should be designed based on the rated torque. To obtain design basis of the rated torque of the hydro-viscous drive speed regulating start device, studies on effect of torque ratio (a ratio of the load torque to the rated torque) on speed regulating start were carried out theoretically and experimentally.

Under different torque ratio, the modified Reynolds, the thermal energy and the viscosity-temperature equations were solved simultaneously by using finite element method to reveal variation laws of the oil film load capacity and torque transmission during the starting process. Then, speed regulating start experiments were carried out to study the following performance of the output speed.

The results show that oil film thickness decreases with the increase of the torque ratio; when oil film thickness is less than 0.05 mm, oil film temperature increases rapidly with the decrease of oil film thickness, which eventually deteriorates performance of the speed regulating start; when the torque ratio decreases to about 0.3, output speed shows a better following performance.

It indicates that, to acquire a better speed regulating start, the rated torque of the hydro-viscous drive speed regulating start device should not be less than three times of the load torque. Achievements of this work provide theoretical basis for optimal design of the friction pairs of the hydro-viscous drive speed regulating start device.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the flexible dynamic characteristics about hydro-viscous drive providing meaningful insights into the credible speed-regulating behavior during the soft-start.

A comprehensive dynamic transmission model is proposed to investigate the effects of key parameters on the dynamic characteristics. To achieve a trade-off between the transmission efficiency and time proportion of hydrodynamic and mixed lubrication, a multi-objective optimization of friction pair system by genetic algorithm is presented to obtain the optimal combination of design parameters.

Decreasing the engagement pressure or the ratio of inner and outer radius, increasing the lubricating oil viscosity or the outer radius will result in the increase of time proportion of hydrodynamic and mixed lubrication, as well as the transmission efficiency and its maximum value. After optimization, main dynamic parameters including the oil film thickness, angular velocity of the driven disk, viscous torque and total torque show remarkable flexible transmission characteristics.

Both the dynamic transmission model and multi-objective optimization model are established to analyze the effects of main design parameters on the dynamic characteristics of hydro-viscous flexible drive.

Hydro-viscous drive (HVD) clutches are widely used in equipment requiring soft start, such as fans and pumps, to transmit torque and adjust speed by changing the gap distance between friction pairs. This paper aims to propose a novel two-parameter evaluation method for HVD during the mixed lubrication stage. The objective is to develop an effective model that establishes the relationship between these parameters and the actual surface topography.

In the presented methods, the fractal features of the real manufacturing surface are calculated based on the power spectrum function by the ultra-depth three-dimensional microscope. After that, the hybrid friction model of the friction plate is established based on mixed elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication theory, boundary friction model and fractal theory. Then the torque and load bearing characteristics of the clutch are obtained, and the influences of the surface fractal features are investigated and discussed. Finally, the Weierstrass–Mandelbrot function is adopted for the surface topography characterization and evaluation.

The results indicate that the proposed method exhibits good accuracy, while the speed difference between the friction pair exceeds 2,500 rpm. It is concluded that this paper proposed a way to evaluate the torque and loading capacity of HVD considering the real manufacturing surface topography and is helpful for surface optimization.

The originality and value of this study lie in its development of a novel torque and load bearing capacity evaluation method for HVD in mixed lubrication stage, considering manufacturing surface topography and describing the real manufacturing surface.

The purpose of this paper is to study friction and wear properties of three types of steels against paper-based friction disc, including 65Mn, 20#steel and 30CrAl, so as to obtain the appropriate working conditions for different friction materials in the transmission system.

Based on actual working conditions, pin-on-disc tests are conducted on a universal material tester. The two evaluation indexes, including average friction coefficient and variation coefficient, are introduced to analyze the different friction properties among three types of steel. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent wear pattern and wear depth are subsequently studied.

The results show that 65Mn is more suitable for working under heavy load and low velocity, but 30CrAl and 20#steel are suitable for working under light load and high velocity. Moreover, wear primarily occurs on paper-based material and peaks at about 325.

This research of different materials and friction property for friction pairs is helpful to improve the performance and prolong the service life of transmission systems.

Suitable working conditions of different friction materials are obtained, and the correlation between wear and decomposition in high temperature is verified.