Influence of Groove Dimensions on the Tribological Behavior of Textured Cylindrical Roller Thrust Bearings under Starved Lubrication

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reveal the friction and wear performance of grooves textured cylindrical roller thrust bearings with different groove dimensions under starved lubrication. Design/methodology/approach The groove dimensions include: width of grooves (WOG, 50 µm, 100 µm and 150 µm), depth of grooves (DPOG, 7 µm, 11 µm and 15 µm) as well as groove deflection angle (GDA, 45°). A fiber laser marking system was used to prepare groove patterns on the raceways of shaft washers. The friction and wear properties of grooves textured bearings were researched through a vertical universal wear test rig using a customized roller bearing tribo-pair under starved lubrication. Static finite element analyses were conducted to reveal their surface stresses. Through the comprehensive comparison and analyses, the influence mechanism of grooves on the tribological behavior of cylindrical roller thrust bearings was proposed and discussed. Findings When grooves textured bearings run under starved lubrication, their average coefficients of friction (COFs) and wear losses are all significantly reduced and much lower than those of smooth group. The influence of DPOG on the COF curves is significant, while the influence of WOG on the COF curves is a little weak. The influence of groove dimensions on the surface stresses of grooves textured bearings is weak, whether the WOG or DPOG. In this work, when the WOG is 100 µm and the DPOG is 15 µm, its average COF and wear loss are both the lowest, 0.0066 and 0.61 mg, respectively. Compared with the data of smooth group, its friction coefficient is reduced by 75.3% and its mass loss is reduced by 95.8%, showing a significant improvement in this condition. Originality/value This work can provide a valuable reference for the raceway design and reliability optimization of rolling element bearings.

Effect of vein-bionic surface textures on the tribological behavior of cylindrical roller thrust bearing under starved lubrication

“…In this case, the secondary vein on the outside can collect and store more wear debris than the vein on the inside, and hereby reduce the thickness of the nylon film, which can be confirmed by the uncleaned worn surface of S3 in Fig. 5 a. Owing to the relatively lower COF between steel and steel than that between nylon and steel, the COF and mass loss of S3 will be finally reduced 27 .…”

“…ECA equals the raceway area minus the surface area occupied by vein texture. The reduced ECAs will cause serious fatigue pitting or edge crushing and increase the metal debris left on the raceways 25 , 27 . This is also the reason for the serious abrasive wear marks on the raceways of S1 and S6.…”

“…81107TN bearing was used in this work 27 . As for the shaft washer, its inner diameter of is 35 mm and its outer diameter is 52 mm, with a thickness of 3.5 mm.…”

“…Therefore, the cylindrical roller thrust bearings (CRTBs) were chose in this work to reveal the effect of vein-bionic textures on the tribological behavior of REBs, due to its separability and easy machinability through LST method 25 – 27 . The leaves of six kinds of plants (Forsythia, Clausena lansiu, Ash, Purple leaf plum, Pipal and Apricot) were randomly collected in the campus of Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, and six vein-bionic textures were designed and marked on the shaft washers of 81107TN bearings (YFB, Changzhou, China) by a fiber laser marking system.…”

Tribological behavior of pits textured multi-rollers sliding-rolling tribo-pair under periodic varied load and dry wear

“…34–36,38 Furthermore, the surface material of textured MRSRT can be regarded as numerous “micro-cantilever-beams.” 34,35 According to the theory of theoretical mechanics, the increase of the length of “micro-cantilever-beams” will significantly reduce the shear resistance of the surface material of MRSRT, especially the material around pits. (3) Due to the “local quenching effect” during laser marking process, there is a phase transformation layer around the pit unit, 34,38 which is helpful to improve the contact fatigue and thermal fatigue performance of MRSRTs, and further improve their fatigue wear resistances. 4 (4) Limited by the function and performance of the wear test rig, the axial external load cannot change automatically and rapidly.…”