Friction at the Contact Between Bearing Balls and Cotton-Phenolic Cage Material

摘要

Current analytical models of ball-bearing behavior generally use values of cage (also called ball separator or ball retainer) friction that do not accurately reflect the dependence of cage friction on the lubrication regime at the cage interfaces (boundary, mixed, or hydrodynamic; starved or fully flooded), ball speed, lubricant identity, ball material and cage material, or they use values that are essentially adjustable parameters. This work reports measurements of coefficient of friction (COF) for balls of three different materials against flats of cotton-phenolic retainer material using three different oils. COFs were measured at 200 g load and sliding speeds between 0. 007 and 9.7 m/s. Steel, silicon nitride, and TiC-coated steel balls were used; a mineral oil, a poly-alpha-olefin, and a trialkylated cyclopentane of the same viscosity were used as lubricants. The complex variation of COF with experimental conditions is related to current theories of lubricant behavior. The data are provided in an appendix for use in modeling programs.