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978-1-4612-2364-1 - 8 Lubrications

The document discusses different lubrication mechanisms including solid lubrication, fluid lubrication, hydrostatic lubrication, and hydrodynamic lubrication. Hydrostatic lubrication uses an external pressure source to maintain a thick fluid film, while hydrodynamic lubrication relies on viscous fluid forces generated by relative motion to support loads without external pumping. Hydrodynamic lubrication is important for applications like magnetic storage devices.

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Apeksha Singh
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42 views2 pages

978-1-4612-2364-1 - 8 Lubrications

The document discusses different lubrication mechanisms including solid lubrication, fluid lubrication, hydrostatic lubrication, and hydrodynamic lubrication. Hydrostatic lubrication uses an external pressure source to maintain a thick fluid film, while hydrodynamic lubrication relies on viscous fluid forces generated by relative motion to support loads without external pumping. Hydrodynamic lubrication is important for applications like magnetic storage devices.

Uploaded by

Apeksha Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 8

Lubrication Mechanisms and Lubricants

8.1. Regimes of Lubrication


Sliding between clean solid surfaces is generally characterized by a high
coefficient of friction and severe wear due to the specific properties of the
surfaces, such as low hardness, high surface energy, reactivity, and mutual
solubility. Clean surfaces readily adsorb traces of foreign substances, such
as organic compounds, from the environment. The newly formed surfaces
generally have a much lower coefficient of friction and wear than the clean
surface. The presence of a layer of foreign material at an interface cannot be
guaranteed during a sliding process; therefore, lubricants are deliberately
applied to produce low friction and wear. The term lubrication is applied
to two different situations: solid lubrication and fluid (liquid or gaseous)
lubrication.

8.1.1. Solid Lubrication


A solid lubricant is any material used as a powder or a thin, solid film on a
surface to provide protection from damage during relative movement to
reduce friction and wear. Solid lubricants are used for applications in which
any sliding contact occurs, for example, a bearing operative at high loads and
low speeds and a hydrodynamically lubricated bearing requiring start/stop
operations. The term solid lubricants embraces a wide range of materials that
provide low friction and wear (Bhushan, 1987a, 1987b; Bhushan and Gupta,
1991). Hard materials are also used for low wear under extreme operating
conditions.

8.1.2. Fluid Lubrication


A regime of lubrication in which a thick fluid film is maintained, between
two sliding surfaces by an external pumping agency, is called hydrostatic
lubrication.

B. Bhushan, Tribology and Mechanics of Magnetic Storage Devices


© Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 1996
586 8. Lubrication Mechanisms and Lubricants

A summary of the lubrication regimes observed in fluid (liquid or gas)


lubrication without an external pumping agency (self-acting) can be found in
the familiar Stribeck curve in Fig. 8.1 (Stribeck, 1902). This plot for a hypo-
thetical fluid-lubricated bearing system presents the coefficient of friction as
a function of the product of viscosity ('1) and rotational speed (N) divided
by the normal pressure (p). The curve has a minimum, which immediately
suggests that more than one lubrication mechanism is involved. The regimes
of lubrication are sometimes identified by a lubricant film parameter A equal
to h/O'-mean film thickness/composite standard deviation of surface rough-
nesses. Descriptions of different regimes of lubrication follow (Booser, 1984;
Fuller, 1984).

8.1.2.1. Hydrostatic Lubrication


Hydrostatic bearings support load on a thick film of fluid supplied from an
external pressure source, a pump, which feeds pressurized fluid to the film.
For this reason, these bearings are often called "externally pressurized."
Hydrostatic bearings are designed for use with both incompressible and
compressible fluids. Since hydrostatic bearings do not require relative motion
of the bearing surfaces to build up the load-supporting pressures as necessary
in hydrodynamic bearings, hydrostatic bearings are used in applications with
little or no relative motion between the surfaces. Hydrostatic bearings may
also be required in applications where, for one reason or another, touching or
rubbing of the bearing surfaces cannot be permitted at startup and shutdown.
In addition, hydrostatic bearings provide high stiffness. Hydrostatic bearings,
however, have the disadvantage ofrequiring high-pressure pumps and equip-
ments for fluid cleaning which adds to space and cost.
Many hydrostatic air bearings are used in the tape path of computer tape
drives.

8.1.2.2. Hydrodynamic Lubrication


Hydrodynamic (HD) lubrication is sometimes called fluid-film or thick-film
lubrication. As a bearing with convergent shape in the direction of motion
starts to spin (slide in the longitudinal direction) from rest, a thin layer of fluid
is pulled through because of viscous entrainment and is then compressed
between the bearing surfaces creating a sufficient (hydrodynamic) pressure to
support the load without any external pumping agency (Fig. 8.1). This is the
principle of hydrodynamic lubrication, a mechanism that is essential to the
efficient functioning of the self-acting journal and thrust bearings widely used
in modem industry. A high load capacity can be achieved in the bearings that
operate at high speeds and low loads in the presence of fluids of high viscosity
(Fuller, 1984). Most magnetic head-rigid disk interfaces used for data process-
ing applications rely on HD air films at their operating speeds for low friction
and wear and high magnetic reliability.

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