Measurement of Lubricant Film Thickness in a Slider-on-Disc Contact

Abstract

In this paper, hydrodynamic lubrication behaviors of PAO (Polyalphaolefin) oils in a slider-on-disc conformal contact were measured with optical interferometry. The film thickness under different loads, speeds, oil viscosities and angles of inclination of slider were obtained. It was shown that under the working conditions employed the film thickness shows linear relationship with load, speed and viscosity at a log-log scale, and a film thickness equation was thus established with correction by the angle of inclination. The measured film thickness vs. speed was transferred to the curve of load-carrying capacity vs. convergence ratio, and it was shown that the load-carrying capacity does not exclusively depend on the contact geometry as predicted by classical theory.

Keywords

• slider-on-disc contact
• hydrodynamic lubrication
• film thickness
• pao oils