EVALUATION OF THE LUBRICATION EFFICIENCY OF GREASES ACCORDING TO CRITERION OF WEAR EXPERIMENTALLY DETERMINED AT VARIABLE VALUES OF MOTION PARAMETERS

摘要

The results of tribological investigations into the lubrication efficiency of greases in steel sliding pairs working in mixed friction conditions are presented. The lubrication efficiency was evaluated according to the criterion of wear determined by tribological tests conducted at variable values of motion parameters: load F and sliding velocity v. Wear volume V_(F(d)), calculated from wear regression equations (wear d = f(p,v), was adopted as the lubrication efficiency criterion. Five different commercial greases currently available on the market and one in-house grease (a compound of grease 1S and two solid greases (6% PTFE and 5% Cu)) were tested. The experiment was conducted in a four-ball tester at five levels in accordance with the rotatable experiment design. A regression function with interrelated ball wear d, sliding velocity v, and applied load F, was formulated for each of the tested greases. Wear volumes V_(F(d)) were calculated and conclusions were drawn.