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Starvation and Reflow of Point Contact Lubricated with Greases of Different Chemical Formulation

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Abstract

Starved film thickness measurements are presented in grease-lubricated point contact under pure rolling condition. The starvation process of different types of greases is recorded and analysed in detail. Results show that the film decay rates for lithium greases and SiO2 greases are quite similar regardless of the rolling speed. Urea grease shows strong adsorbability to the metal surface, which can be clearly observed during the test. Oil separation tests and scanning electron microscopy observations proved the differences in structure and stability of the tested grease. A close relationship between starved film thickness and oil bleeding rate is found in the present research.

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Acknowledgments

The work is financially supported by the International Science and Technology Cooperation Project (Grant No. 2011DFA70980) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51375255) and by the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51321092). The authors would like to thank Shenzhen Hecheng Lubricant Material Co. Ltd. for supplying the greases. The authors would also like to thank Shell (Shanghai) Technology Ltd. to provide test data.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10084, China

    Lu Huang, Dan Guo & Shizhu Wen

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  1. Lu Huang
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  2. Dan Guo
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  3. Shizhu Wen
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Correspondence to Dan Guo.

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Huang, L., Guo, D. & Wen, S. Starvation and Reflow of Point Contact Lubricated with Greases of Different Chemical Formulation. Tribol Lett 55, 483–492 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-014-0376-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-014-0376-2

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