Water Pool Behaviors of Water Lubricating for Glass/Steel Point Contact

Abstract

The behavior of pools of water for lubrication under a point of contact between a glass disk and a steel ball is studied here, employing a home-built apparatus. A deformed water pool is found to form around the contact region under different rolling speeds. To investigate the effect of rolling speed on the water pool, two parameters (advancing angle and receding angle) are introduced to describe the shape of the water pool. Two distinct glass surfaces, namely a smooth surface and a microgrooved surface, are observed. In the case of the smooth surface, the advancing/receding angle of the water pool significantly decreases with increasing rolling speed before the rolling speed reaches a critical value (80 mm/s). At speeds higher than 80 mm/s, the water pool is in a stable state and the advancing/receding angle remains steady. In the case of the microgrooved surface, the influence of the microgroove on water lubricating flow disappears when the rolling speed reaches a critical value (1030 mm/s).

Keywords

• water lubrication
• direct observation
• point of contact