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WHY
High temperature tribological testing often requires the development of complex mechanical setups, that should meet rigorous standards and specific performance metrics. Thus, the development of a state-of-the-art experimental setup to study the reciprocating sliding behaviour of various bulk and coated materials at temperatures that can reach up to 1000 °C is needed, especially for the evaluation of high temperature materials for aeronautical applications.
WHY
Nowadays there is a great demand to use lightweight materials, such as aluminium alloys. One of their application possibilities is in the forming industry. In such demanding applications the use of a cutting fluid is essential to lubricate cutting edge and cool down the workpiece. Until now, to evaluate the efficiency of cutting fluids, ASTM D3233 tests on a Falex Pin-and-Vee Block tester were performed. However, this procedure was developed on hard tool steels and thus it is not appropriate for soft materials, such as aluminum alloys. In this application study and a modification of this procedure is proposed for testing of cutting fluids for soft materials and alloys.
WHY
Air conditioner compressor fluids have to prevent friction and wear under elevated gas pressure. Standard Pin&Vee Block tests with gas 'bubbling' through the lubricant do not correlate with field behaviour, especially with CO2 as the cooling medium. Another simulation with pressurized gas is needed. We selected the Falex Block on Ring configuration, as it also recreates the line contacts and is able to work at higher speed than the Pin&Vee block machine.
WHY
Nowadays polymer based coatings are applied in all walks of life, due to their excellent corrosion resistance, low friction and cost, good surface finish, molding ability and low density. However, one of the main issue of these coatings is their relatively poor performance in terms of wear. Especially, when sliding under high speeds, frictional heating can lead to a softening of the coating and accelerate the wearing-off process. Evaluating the high speed sliding performance of polymer coatings is a key issue in many applications.
WHY
The steering system of cars is based on a rack and pinion system. Over time, the metal on these gears wears out, resulting in a loose fitting. Some other applications also make use of a rack and pinion system to translate a rotary drive motion into a linear displacement. The wear and tear of such systems occurs through a roll-slip mechanism. Therefore a tribological method needs to be developed to simulate such roll-slip contacts and their failure mechanisms.
WHY
In reality, due to a misalignment, vibrations or other reasons high speed pump rotors can come in contact with the stator, leading to a catastrophic failure. This failure is a result of severe shearing of the contacting surfaces. However, the existing ASTM Galling method (G 196), is performed at very high pressures and very low speeds, and does not simulate the “actual” conditions met at high speeds.
WHY
Polymeric materials are used more and more as cage material for light weight bearing applications, but thermoplastic materials suffer from PV limits. At high speeds, the polymer may melt easily under light loads. Thermoset resins don't have this limit, but may still disintegrate under higher temperatures. In this method, we can apply high speeds and variable loads, to explore the limits of thermosets.
WHY
In the effort to reduce CO2 exhaust, an important approach is to reduce friction in the engine. One part of the mix of options are ‘friction modifying additives’, such as the well-known GMO, which are known to reduce friction by 5, 10 or 20%. However, the difficult task is to prove the effect of friction modifiers in the engine, since existing engine tests measure the interaction of all sliding and moving components, as well as lubricant viscosity and other effects. In order to isolate and evaluate the efficiency of friction modifiers, a precision frictional approach is required.
WHY
One of the most difficult industrial issues related to tribology is the prediction of long term wear or material durability. In many components and products, materials with or without lubrication are used to reduce wear and maintain functionality of the component. Required ‘wear life’ may be thousands of hours. Contrary to the determination of a ‘coefficient of friction’ – which can be done in a few hours, the determination of wear and wear rate under realistic conditions is a long term test. The challenge is twofold : perform low wear rate experiments with many repeats at an economically acceptable cost. The only way to do this is by a multistation approach (performing many wear experiments simultaneously).
WHY
In an industrial forming operation, the friction between tool and workpiece, or workpiece and die, determines the quality and efficiency of forming. Too high friction can cause wrinkles or tears, resulting in scrap. Forming lubricants appear to be sensitive to temperature, so the optimal forming conditions may vary with increasing temperature, as the machines warm up.