Investigation of Friction and Wear of Dynamically Loaded Hydrodynamic Bearings With Abrasive Contaminants

Abstract

A test system is described for investigating friction and wear of hydrodynamic bearings under cyclical dynamic loading conditions with contaminant abrasive particles in the oil supply. Dynamic loading on the test bearing is synchronized with the shaft rotation, so that the oil film thickness history can be determined from the measured shaft orbit for any point on the shaft and liner periphery. Either clean or contaminated oil can be supplied to the test bearing from two separate oil supply systems. Experimental results obtained for six shaft/liner bearing material combinations were similar to those previously obtained for static loading. The friction and wear behavior were found to depend on the relative hardnesses of the shaft and liner. A larger shaft-to-liner hardness ratio generally resulted in more shaft wear and less liner wear. This is attributed to an increased tendency for abrasive particles to partially embed in the liner and cut the shaft when the shaft is harder and/or the liner is softer. With partial embedding, high bearing friction indicative of continuing abrasion persists after changing from contaminated to clean oil.