Abstract
This work explores experimentally the effects of DC electrical currents on lubricant film thickness alteration in lubricated sliding steel contacts in the boundary and mixed regime as measured by ultrasound. The experiments were performed in a two-electrode cell-based pin-on-disk tester instrumented with ultrasonic transducers. Unelectrified and electrified tribological tests were conducted on steel flat-on-flat contacts under various speeds and loads using both a mineral base oil and a gear oil. Film thickness, coefficient of friction (CoF), and electrical contact resistance (ECR) were measured during short experiments (30 s) in unelectrified and electrified (1.5 and 3 A) conditions. The results suggest that film thickness, CoF, and all ECR are altered by passing DC currents through the contact. In particular, film thickness increased and decreased, respectively, by applying electricity at the different speeds and loads tested. These alterations were majorly ascribed to oil viscosity decrease by local heat and surface oxidation caused by electrical discharge and break down at the interface.
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Acknowledgements
Julio A. CAO-ROMERO-GALLEGOS and Oscar A. AGUILAR-ROSAS thank the Mexican National Council of Humanities, Science, and Technology (CONAHCYT) and Tecnologico de Monterrey for the scholarships received for conducting part of this research project. Leonardo. I. FARFAN-CABRERA acknowledges the financial support given by Tecnologico de Monterrey within the Challenge-based research project IJST070-23EG68001 (call 2023) to carry out part of this research work.
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Julio A. CAO-ROMERO-GALLEGOS. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (2019) and MSc in nanotechnology (2021) at Tecnológico de Monterrey. By then, he started his Ph.D. studies at the same university. His topic of research is electric vehicles (EVs) tribology, particularly, electrified sliding/rolling metallic contacts and tribochemistry.
Saeid TAGHIZADEH. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering (MSc of advanced mechanical engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK). He then has started studying for a fully funded Ph.D. in tribology at the University of Sheffield. He is an expert in measuring and detecting tribological phenomena such as oil film thickness, oil degradation and contamination detection, rheology, contact stiffness, friction and wear. He has been a university teacher, and a postdoctoral research associate in tribology and finite element analysis at the University of Sheffield. One of the main methods he uses for these detections and measurements is linear and nonlinear ultrasound. He also works in the field of machine learning and digital twins of tribology.
Oscar A. AGUILAR-ROSAS. He received his bachelor’s degree in automotive engineering (2020) and MSc in nanotechnology (2022) at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. He was visiting scholar at the University of Sheffield and Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain, in 2022.
R.S. DWYER-JOYCE. He is director of the Leonardo Centre for Tribology at the University of Sheffield, UK. He has his first degree in mechanical engineering and did his Ph.D. in tribology at Imperial College, UK. He pioneered the use of ultrasound for tribological machine elements, to measure of oil film, contact load, and viscosity. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and past editor of the IMechE Journal of Tribology.
Leonardo I. FARFAN CABRERA. He is Research Assistant Professor and leader of the Automotive and Manufacturing Tribology Lab at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. He received his MSc and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering at Instituto Politécnico National, Mexico, and was Fulbright Posdoctoral Fellow at Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), USA. His research areas focus on tribology of EVs and automotive components, bio-lubricants, and tribo-testing.
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Cao-Romero-Gallegos, J.A., Taghizadeh, S., Aguilar-Rosas, O.A. et al. The effect of electrical current on lubricant film thickness in boundary and mixed lubrication contacts measured with ultrasound. Friction 12, 1882–1896 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0890-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0890-7