Automotive machine elements are used under a wide range of temperature conditions, from very low (-40°C to -30°C) to high (up to +150°C). In this study, we focused on very low temperature conditions and used high viscosity oil (40°C 1000mm2/s, 100°C 98.8mm2/s) to investigate tribological characteristics (oil film formation, traction force) from the IR to PE regions using an optical interference fringe testing device. The test was carried out at room temperature of 24°C. As a result, when observing the oil film thickness at 0% slip ratio, it was confirmed that the central oil film region expanded with increasing load, and that there was only a slight decrease in the minimum oil film thickness. A comparison of the minimum oil film thickness and the central oil film thickness showed good correspondence with the calculated values. It was also found that in the PE region, the traction coefficient increased as the load increased.
TOZAKI et al. (Wed,) studied this question.