Experimental investigation of transient and thermal effects on lubricated non‐conformal contacts

In this work, thermal and transient effects on non‐conformal lubricated contacts are investigated through experimental analyses. Experiments between a ball and a plane surface of a disc are described. Friction coefficients and film thicknesses are measured (the film thickness only for the glass‐on‐steel contact). A paraffin base mineral oil is used as a lubricant. First experiments are carried out under steady‐state conditions. To include effects due to different thermal properties of contacting materials, a steel‐on‐steel and a glass‐on‐steel contact with different slide‐to‐roll ratios are tested. If the contacting materials have different thermal properties, as in the case of a glass‐on‐steel contact, thermal effects like the temperature–viscosity wedge action could clearly be shown. It is found that the friction coefficients are influenced by the slide‐to‐roll ratio and the thermal properties of the contacting materials. Under transient conditions, the entraining velocity is varied with a sinusoidal law. Squeeze effects explain ‘loops’ of friction and film thickness found also in previous works. The formation of friction loops is related to the measured film thickness differences. However, also under non‐steady‐state conditions, thermal effects, like the temperature–viscosity wedge action, influence the friction coefficients.