EHL Oil Film Behavior of Thermo-Reversible Gel-Lubricants

Abstract

This study investigates about the characteristic of the thermo-reversible gel-lubricant (TR Gel-Lube) under elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) conditions. TR Gel-Lube is the lubricant, which consists of base fluid and a gel agent. TR Gel-Lube is repeatedly able to change gel-state to liquid-state at the melting point of its gel agent. Moreover, TR Gel-Lube has good tribological properties, anti-evaporability and so on. This paper describes about investigation of the EHL oil film thickness characteristic, the oil starvation at EHL inlet region and the EHL traction characteristic. It was observed that TR Gel-Lube had low EHL traction, thick EHL film thickness and good stability of EHL oil film formation compared with conventional greases.

Keywords

• ehl
• thermo-reversible gel-lubricant
• grease
• oil film thickness
• oil starvation
• traction