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The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of friction coefficient of materials with different elastic modulus on the variation of velocity and load under water lubrication and oil lubrication conditions.

Low-viscosity lubricating oil and water were used as lubricants to test the friction performance of the ball-disc contact friction pair in the lubrication state on the universal micro-tribometer multi-functional friction and wear test system.

In the same speed range, the lubrication states from soft to rigid materials are not necessarily similar to each other. Generally, the material with low elastic modulus is suitable in low-viscosity lubricant environments, while the material with high elastic modulus has relatively smaller friction coefficients in oil-lubricated environments compared with water lubrication. However, the coefficients of polyethylene, polytetrafluoroethylen and polyoxymethylene are exceeded by rubber’s coefficients under water lubrication in the same experiment environments, and their lubrication states are not affected by lubricants. The friction coefficient of the friction pair decreases with the increase of loads; however, it does not apply to all materials. The friction coefficients of materials with smaller elastic modulus such as rubber under high loads are rather large. Therefore, the elastic modulus of the material under high loads is a factor to be considered.

The Stribeck curves study of the ball-disk contact friction pair comprising soft and rigid materials, whose elastic modulus is from hundreds of GPa to a few of MPa, was carried out. The influence of different speeds, loads and lubricants on the friction coefficient of the friction pair was revealed, which provided a research basis for the selection and matching of friction pair materials.

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 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.

The authors believe that an organised factory lubrication scheme is an essential part of a planned maintenance system. The paper reviews the factors that provide a justification for organised lubrication and notes some of the considerations which affect the type of lubrication system that may be appropriate in a given factory. The development of planned lubrication in a medium‐sized chemical process factory of the authors' company is then discussed in detail.

The purpose of this study is to solve this problem. Different lubrication states play a huge role in friction, wear and service life of parts. To ensure the reliability and power of the internal combustion engine, it is necessary to ensure that the friction pair has been in the best lubrication state. One of the key problems of lubrication state and transformation characteristics is to achieve real-time measurement of lubrication state.

Previous studies show that the contact resistance method is very effective in the qualitative analysis of lubrication state test. The circuit is simple and does not require expensive test equipment. But this method could not accurately reflect the film thickness ratio. Through a combination of experimental and theoretical analysis methods, the limitation of the contact resistance method could be overcome.

The relationship between the point contact film-thickness ratio and contact resistance was established, then the film-thickness ratio could be obtained through the contact resistance, thus providing the basis for determining the point contact lubrication state.

According to existing research, the lubrication state of the friction pair mainly was determined through two methods, the friction coefficient and film-thickness ratio. But there are limitations on either using Stribeck curves or optical interference methods. The method used in this paper not only provides a verified way of design theory and model, but is also beneficial to the formation of a new design theory.

A new real-time measurement method of lubrication state based on contact resistance is established and its practicability and veracity are verified by series experiments.

The author was fortunate enough to spend some three months in the U.S.A. during 1954, studying the function and status of the Industrial Lubrication Engineer. In all, some 40 plants were visited. These included heavy engineering, automotive, research, oil companies, but were mainly concerned with steelworks. The following observations refer, therefore, to the steel industry.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a rapid and effective numerical model of thin film lubrication with clear physical conception, in which viscosity variation along the direction of film thickness was used instead of average viscosity, and continuous Reynolds equation was used in the calculation of thin film lubrication.

Based on rheology and thin film lubrication with point contact and considering features of shear thinning and like-solidification of lubricant oil in the thin film lubrication state, a modified formula with overall average equivalent viscosity was proposed by combining numerical calculation and experiment data.

It is a fast and efficient method for film lubrication state simulation.

Thin film lubrication research on a nanoscale is very popular, and a variety of thin film lubrication models are proposed. Due to the complexity of thin film lubrication, it is still in the stage of revealing law and establishing calculation model.

The key issue is how to obtain the viscosity correction formula derived from engineering practice, also considered the lubricating oil class solidification and shear-thinning properties on thin film lubrication, while based on the system experiment, the viscosity modified formula for the gap, speed changes are proposed to obtain the overall average equivalent viscosity which makes the thin film lubrication micro to macro, so that a clear physical meaning for thin-film lubrication numerical calculation model is established.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the friction reduction performance and mechanism of granular flow lubrication during the milling of difficult-to-machining materials and provide a high-performance lubrication method for the precision cutting of nickel-based alloys.

The milling tests for Inconel 718 superalloy under dry cutting, flood lubrication and granular flow lubrication were carried out, and the milling force and machined surface quality were used to evaluate their friction reduction effect. Furthermore, based on the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) spectrums and the topographical features of machined surface, the lubrication mechanism of different granular mediums was explored during granular flow lubrication.

Compared with flood lubrication, the granular flow lubrication had a significant force reduction effect, and the maximum milling force was reduced by about 30%. At the same time, the granular flow lubrication was more conducive to reducing the tool trace size, repressing surface damage and thus achieving better surface quality. The soft particles had better friction reduction performance than the hard particles with the same particle size, and the friction reduction performance of nanoscale hard particles was superior to that of microscale hard particles. The friction reduction mechanism of MoS₂ and WS₂ soft particles is the mending effect and adsorption film effect, whereas that of SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ hard particles is mainly manifested as the rolling and polishing effect.

Granular flow lubrication was applied in the precision milling of Inconel 718 superalloy, and a comparative study was conducted on the friction reduction performance of soft particles (MoS₂, WS₂) and hard particles (SiO₂, Al₂O₃). Based on the EDS spectrums and topographical features of machined surface, the friction reduction mechanism of soft and hard particles was explored.

Harmonic gears always work under different operating conditions and may usually break down due to lubrication failures, while its lubrication mechanism is still not clearly understood. This paper aims to present a lubrication model comprehensively considering the influence of contact geometry, lubrication properties and three-dimensional (3D) real surface roughness to analyze the lubrication performance under different conditions.

Based on the discrete convolution-fast Fourier transformation with duplicated padding and quasi-system numerical methods, the lubrication model for harmonic gears is developed, which is verified by comparing results with available lubrication data.

The effects of meshing process, working conditions and 3D roughness on the lubrication characteristics are discussed. From the calculated cases, the increase in rotational speed and decrease of applied torque may increase the film thickness, enhancing the lubrication performance of harmonic gears. It is also observed that proper surface roughness can be used for lubrication design.

The research results can provide theoretical guidance for improving lubrication performance and reducing friction/wear of the harmonic gear interfaces. This study can be promoted to various engineering scenarios of harmonic gears, such as industrial robots, space-driven agencies and precision measuring instruments.

LUBRICATION, as a natural phenomenon is as ageless as time, its contribution, in early beginnings, to the formation of the terrain on which we live cannot be questioned; it was invaluable, in later times, following the glacial eras, indeed there is still no demonstration of the defeat of friction between two surfaces in close contact to surpass that of wet ice sliding over wet ice.