Experimental Study of Roughness Effect in a Rolling-Sliding EHL Contact. Part I: Roughness Deformation

摘要

This article presents experimental results of artificial roughness behavior inside elastohydrodynamic contacts. An optical tribometer with a high-speed camera was used to measure the film thickness distribution inside the contact. The results are compared to the amplitude attenuation theory including a description of harmonic components modification. Part I of the article deals with roughness deformation. The effects of central film thickness and slide-to-roll ratio on the roughness feature deformation were investigated for two lubricants. It was found that roughness is independent of sliding magnitude and position inside a highly loaded zone. The results showed a good correlation with Hooke's approximate amplitude attenuation model. However, it reaches a limiting deformation under thin film conditions. Part II of the article deals with complementary effect connected with surface roughness under rolling-sliding conditions.