Experimental Study On The Unsteady Lubrication

With the development of industrial technology, there are more requirements for the study on the state of lubrication under different kind of contacts. Compared with the point contacts, the line contacts can withstand greater load because of larger area of contact, so it has been widely used in engineering. Therefore it is significant to study the lubrication of the line contacts in reducing energy consumption and wear, improving production efficiency and other aspects.In order to study the film lubrication state of line contacts under unsteady state, it is necessary to design and manufacture a newly set of reciprocating rub tester on the basis of the optical interference nanometer-level oil film thickness measuring device. The frequency and load of this device can be transformed on the condition of the line contact. The experimental device collects images of interference fringes in contact area during reciprocating process by microscope for the analysis of the oil film thickness. In addition, the rub tester is equipped with friction testing device to explore the influence of load, frequency, and viscosity of the lubricant to the line contact lubrication. The rub tester is convenient to adjust with compact structure, and it is of great use to study the lubrication under unsteady state with stable testing process.This paper introduced the experimental procedures and programs of the reciprocating rub tester. The influence of load, frequency, viscosity of lubricant to friction and oil film thickness of line contact was analyzed according to the experimental data obtained. The results indicate that film thickness and friction of line contact were mainly affected by load. It is of a certain significance for promoting the study of line contact lubrication under unsteady state to deeper level.