Issue 17, 2018, Issue in Progress

The flow characteristics of solid particles used as additives for lubricants in the point contact area

Abstract

Solid nanoparticles have been applied as anti-wear and friction reduction additives for lubricants. In this paper, the flow characteristics of solid particles used as additives for lubricants were studied. A flow field visualizer based on high speed photography was developed. The particle trajectories in the point contact area were recorded using the flow field visualizer and were compared with the particle trajectories simulated using COMSOL. The results were analyzed and compared with tribological test results. It was found that the experimental results matched well with the simulation results, and the speed of the particles decreased by 60% at the inlet and outlet zones of the contact area. Solid particles were found to experience an unsteady flow in both the inlet and outlet zones and this would contribute to particle sedimentation in those areas, which matches well with the findings of the tribology test, which showed that more particles sedimented in those two areas.

Graphical abstract: The flow characteristics of solid particles used as additives for lubricants in the point contact area

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Oct 2017
Accepted
25 Feb 2018
First published
06 Mar 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 9457-9461

The flow characteristics of solid particles used as additives for lubricants in the point contact area

T. Sui, B. Song, F. Zhang, Y. Chen, S. Yan, A. Wang and M. Ding, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 9457 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA11313G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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