Government legislation, customer requirement, and pressure from the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) continually pushes the issue of increased vehicle fuel economy to the forefront. Lubricant manufacturers responded by creating low viscosity lubricants with complex additive packages capable of reducing total engine friction while maintaining the useful life of the engine. An important component in the lubricant additive package is the friction modifier, whose job is to reduce the sliding friction of components operating in the boundary lubrication regime.It is widely agreed that 40 -60 per cent of mechanical friction can be attributed to the piston/ ring/cylinder wall interface, much of which is as a result of the compression ring whose lubrication is kept purposely minimal to control exhaust emissions. A logical progression to research suggests utilizing fuel to administer friction modifier directly to the top ring zone of the engine, the area where its effects are most beneficial. This article describes a series of tests conducted using a Plint TE-77 reciprocating tribometer to investigate the synergy of lubricant and fuel containing friction modifier at the top ring zone. A computational model has been modified and utilized to further investigate the potential impact of administering friction modifier at the top ring zone via the fuel.

A novel ultrasonic viscometer intended for in-situ applications in lubricated components is presented. The concept is based on the reflection of a shear wave at a solid-liquid boundary that depends on the viscosity of the liquid and the acoustic properties of the solid. Very little ultrasound energy can propagate into the oil at a metal-oil interface because the acoustic mismatch is great, and this leads to large measurement errors. The method described in this paper overcomes this limitation by placing a thin intermediate matching layer between the metal and the lubricant.Results obtained with this technique are in excellent agreement with expected values from conventional viscometers when Newtonian mineral oils are analysed. When complex non-Newtonian mixtures are tested the viscosity measurement is frequency dependent. At high ultrasonic frequencies, over 1 MHz, it is possible to shear only the base oil, while to obtain the viscosity of the mixture it is necessary to choose a lower excitation frequency to match the dispersed polymer relaxation time.

Reducing engine friction remains an important goal of the automotive industry. Reduced engine friction has been partly achieved by using low viscosity, friction modified lubricants, reducing the energy required to shear the fluid in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime (which is the primary lubrication mode in the piston assembly). It has long been understood that the piston ring / cylinder liner interface is responsible for a significant proportion of engine friction and can significantly influence the fuel consumption of an engine. This paper describes research conducted to develop understanding of both the interfacial relationship of the compression ring and cylinder liner and the synergistic relationship of fuel and lubricant at the top ring zone of a single cylinder gasoline engine. A portfolio of engine testing, laboratory work and computer simulation has been conducted.

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ReuseUnless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version -refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher's website. TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. Non AbstractAn ultrasonic viscometer was used to measure the circumferential viscosity variation in a journal bearing non-invasively. This sensing technique is based on the reflection of a shear wave at a solidliquid boundary that depends on the viscosity of the liquid and the acoustic properties of the solid. Very little ultrasonic energy can propagate into the oil at a metal-oil interface because the acoustic mismatch is significant. Interleaving a matching layer between the metal and the lubricant enables accurate ultrasonic viscosity measurements [1]. This technique has been used to build a miniaturized ultrasonic viscometer that is accommodated inside a journal to obtain the circumferential viscosity profile. Four viscosity regions are identified due to the variations in the localized temperatures and loads. The results are compared with the isoviscous solution of the Reynolds equations for hydrodynamic lubricated bearings. The ultrasonic viscometer locates the angle at which the maximum load occurs and the length of the loaded contact with good accuracy. Finally, the viscosity results are used to estimate the frictional power losses. It is shown that over 70 % of the total losses in the journal bearing occur in the region where the load is maximum.