Lubrication and Lubricants: Prof. M. F. Wani National Institute of Technology Srinagar

LUBRICATION AND LUBRICANTS
Prof. M. F. Wani
National Institute of Technology Srinagar
INTRODUCTION
 Frictional force always exists at the interface of two rubbing surfaces

 Contact takes place at the peaks of asperities of the surfaces
 Enormous energy is lost in overcoming the force of friction

 ⁄ th of the total energy is consumed in piston-cylinder friction
 Efficiency can be increased considerably by reducing friction
LUBRICATION
 One of the oldest methods of

reducing friction
 Low shear-strength layers of gas,
liquids and solids are interposed
between the interacting surfaces
 Thin films on the order of surface
roughness of the contacting
surfaces results in relatively lower
friction and wear by separating the
interacting bodies
 Work of Tower & Reynolds (late
1880’s) helped understand the
friction and wear reducing
mechanism of lubricants
REGIMES OF LUBRICATION
HYDRODYNAMIC LUBRICATION
 A very close proximity to one another surfaces become pressurised and hold those surfaces apart.
HYDROSTATIC LUBRICATION
 Solid surfaces are separated by a thick fluid film supplied from an external pressure
source, e.g. by an oil pump system.
BOUNDARY LUBRICATION
 When the contact of asperities on sliding couples increases as the load increases, the
sliding speed decreases or the fluid viscosity decreases, the friction significantly
increases and the load is mainly supported by the asperity contact.
MIXED LUBRICATION
 This is the situation when several lubrication modes, such as HL and boundary
lubrication, coexist.
STRIBECK CURVE
 The friction or lubrication conditions between boundary and fluid friction are graphically illustrated
by use of Stribeck diagram.
HYDRODYNAMIC LUBRICATION
 REYNOLDS EQUATION
 Reynolds’ theory explains the mechanism of lubrication through the generation of a viscous
liquid film between the moving surfaces. The condition is that the surfaces must move,
relatively to each other, with sufficient velocity to generate such a film.
 All hydrodynamic lubrication can be expressed mathematically in the form of an equation
which was originally derived by Reynolds and is commonly known throughout the literature
as the 'Reynolds equation’.
 There are two conditions for the occurrence of hydrodynamic lubrication:
1. two surfaces must move relatively to each other with sufficient velocity for a load carrying
lubricating film to be generated and,
2. surfaces must be inclined at some angle to each other, i.e., if the surfaces are parallel a
pressure field will not form in the lubricating film to support the required load.
 There are two exceptions to this last rule: hydrodynamic pressure can be generated
between parallel stepped surfaces or the surfaces can move towards each other . The
principle of hydrodynamic pressure generation between moving non-parallel surfaces is
schematically illustrated in Figure.
the shear stress '~'

can be expressed in terms of dynamic viscosity and shear rates
LIMITS OF HYDRODYNAMIC LUBRICATION
 Boundary and EP lubrication involves the formation of low friction, protective layers on
the wearing surfaces.
 Boundary lubrication occurs under high-load and low-speed conditions in machine

components such as bearings, gears, cam and tappet interfaces, and piston ring and
liner interfaces.
Mechanisms of Boundary Lubrication:

 Boundary lubrication comprises of two mechanisms: Physisorption &
Chemisorption.
 The boundary films are formed by physical adsorption, chemical adsorption,
and chemical reaction. The physisorbed film can be of either monomolecular
(typically < 3 nm) or polymolecular thickness. The chemisorbed films are
monomolecular, but stoichiometric films formed by chemical reaction can have
a large film thickness. In general, the stability and durability of surface films
decrease in the following order: chemical reaction films, chemisorbed films, and
physisorbed films.
ELASTOHYDRODYNAMIC LUBRICATION
 Elastohydrodynamic lubrication can be defined as a form of hydrodynamic lubrication
where the elastic deformation of the contacting bodies and the changes of viscosity
with pressure play fundamental roles.
 EHL is important in nonconforming, heavily-loaded contacts such as point contacts of
ball bearings, line contacts of roller bearings, point and line contacts of gear teeth and
compliant bearings and seals at moderate loads.
Effects Contributing to the Generation of Elastohydrodynamic Films
The three following effects play a major role in the formation of lubrication films in
elastohydrodynamic lubrication:
 the hydrodynamic film formation,
 the modification of the film geometry by elastic deformation,
 the transformation of the lubricant's viscosity and rheology under pressure.
All three effects act simultaneously and cause the generation of elastohydrodynamic
films.

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LUBRICATION AND LUBRICANTS

 Frictional force always exists at the interface of two rubbing surfaces

 Enormous energy is lost in overcoming the force of friction

 One of the oldest methods of

the shear stress '~'

 Boundary lubrication occurs under high-load and low-speed conditions in machine

Mechanisms of Boundary Lubrication:

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