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LUBRICATION

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 91 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LUBRICATION . Our knowledge of the See also:

action of See also:oils and other viscous fluids in diminishing See also:friction and See also:wear between solid surfaces from being purely empirical has become a connected theory, based on the known properties of See also:matter, subjected to the See also:definition of mathematical See also:analysis and verified by experiment. The theory was published in 1886 (Phil. Trans., 1886, 177, pp. 157-234); but it is the purpose of this See also:article not so much to explain its application, as to give a brief See also:account of the introduction of the misconceptions that so See also:long prevailed, and of the manner in which their removal led to its See also:general See also:acceptance. Friction, or resistance to tangential shifting of matter over matter, whatever the mode and arrangement, differs greatly according to the materials, but, like all material resistance, is essentially limited. The range of the limits in available materials has a See also:primary See also:place in determining See also:mechanical possibilities, and from the earliest times they have demanded the closest See also:attention on the See also:part of all who have to do with structures or with See also:machines, the former being concerned to find those materials and their arrangements which possess the highest limits, and the latter the materials in which the limits are least. Long before the See also:reformation of See also:science in the 15th and 16th centuries both these limits had formed the subject of such empirical See also:research as disclosed numerous definite although disconnected circumstances under which they could be secured; and these, however far from the highest and lowest, satisfied the exigencies of See also:practical See also:mechanics at the See also:time, thus initiating the method of extending knowledge which was to be subsequently recognized as the only basis of See also:physical See also:philosophy. In this purely empirical research the conclusion arrived at represented the results for the actual circumstance from which they were See also:drawn, and thus afforded no are linear functions of the distortional rates of See also:strain multiplied by a See also:constant coefficient, it was found that the only solutions of which the equations admitted, when applied to fluids flowing between fixed boundaries, as See also:water in a See also:pipe, were singular solutions for steady or steady periodic See also:motion, and that the conclusions they entailed, that the resistance would be proportional to the velocity, were for the most part directly at variance with the See also:common experience that the resistances varied with the square of the velocity. This discrepancy was sometimes supposed to be the result of eddies in the fluid, but it was not till 1883 that it was discovered by experiments with See also:colour bands that, in the See also:case of geometrically similar boundaries, the existence or non-existence of such eddies depended upon a definite relation between the mean velocity (U) of the fluid, the distance between the boundaries, and the ratio of the co-efficient of viscosity to the See also:density (µ/p), expressed by UDp/µ = K, where K is a physical constant See also:independent of See also:units, which has a value between 1900 and 2000, and for parallel boundaries D is four times the See also:area of the channel divided by the perimeter of the See also:section (Phil. Trans., 1883, part iii. 935-982).

K is thus a criterion at which the See also:

law of resistance to the mean flow changes suddenly (as U increases), from being proportional to the flow, to a law involving higher See also:powers of the velocity at first, but as the rates increase approaching an asymptote in which the See also:power is a little less that the square. This sudden See also:change in the law of resistance to the flow of fluid between solid boundaries, depending as it does on a See also:complete change in the manner of the flow—from See also:direct parallel flow to sinuous eddying motion—serves to determine analytically the circumstances as to the velocity and the thickness of the film under which arty fluid having a particular coefficient of viscosity can See also:act the part of a lubricant. For as long as the circumstances are such that UDp/µ is less than K, the parallel flow is held See also:stable by the viscosity, so that only one See also:solution is possible—that in which the resistance is the product of multiplied by the See also:rate of distortion, as µdy, in this case the fluid has lubricating properties. But when the circumstances are such that UDp/µ is greater than K, other solutions become possible, and the parallel flow becomes unstable, breaks down into eddying motion, and the resistance varies as pu", which approximates to pulls as the velocity increases; in this See also:state the fluid has no lubricating properties. Thus, within the limits of the criterion, the rate of displacement of the momentum of the fluid is in-significant as compared with the viscous resistance, and may be neglected; while outside this limit the direct effects of the eddying motion completely dominate the viscous resistance, which in its turn may be neglected. Thus K is a criterion which separates the flow of fluid between solid surfaces as definitely as the flow of fluid is separated from the relative motions in elastic solids, and it is by the knowledge of the limit on which this distinction depends that the theory of viscous flow can with assurance be applied to the circumstance of lubrication. Until the existence of this physical constant was discovered, any theoretical conclusions as to whether in any particular circumstances the resistance of the lubricant would follow the law of viscous flow or that of eddying motion was impossible. Thus See also:Tower, being unaware of the See also:discovery of the criterion, which was published in the same See also:year as his reports, was thrown off the See also:scent in his endeavour to verify the See also:evidence he had obtained as to the finite thickness of the film by varying the velocity. He remarks in his first See also:report that, " according to the theory of fluid motion, the resistance would be as the square of the velocity, whereas in his results it did not increase according to this law." The rational theory of lubrication does not, however, depend solely on the viscosity within the interior of fluids, but also depends on the See also:surface action between the fluid and the solid. In many respects the surface actions, as indicated by surface tension, are still obscure, and there has been a general tendency to assume that there may be discontinuity in the velocity at the common surface. But whatever these actions may be in other respects, there is abundant evidencethat there is no appreciable discontinuity in the velocity at the surfaces as long as the fluid has finite thickness. Hence in the case of lubrication the velocities of the fluid at the surfaces of the solids are those of the solid.

In as far as the presence of the lubricant is necessary, such properties as cause oil in spite of its surface tension to spread even against gravity over a See also:

bright See also:metal surface, while See also:mercury will concentrate into globules on the bright surface of See also:iron, have an important place in securing lubrication where the action is intermittent, as in the escapement of a See also:clock. If there is oil on the pallet, although the pressure of the tooth causes this to flow out laterally from between the surfaces, it goes back again by surface tension during the intervals; hence the importance of using fluids with See also:low surface tension like oil, or See also:special oils, when there is no other means of securing the presence of the lubricant. The See also:differential equations for the See also:equilibrium of the lubricant are what the differential equations of viscous fluid in steady motion become when subject to the conditions necessary for lubrication as already defined—(I) the velocity is below the See also:critical value; (2) at the surfaces the velocity of the fluid is that of the solid; (3) the thickness of the film is small compared with the lateral dimensions of the surfaces and the radii of curvature of the surfaces. By the first of these conditions all the terms having p as a See also:factor may be neglected, and the equations thus become the equations of equilibrium of the fluid; as such, they are applicable to fluid whether incompressible or elastic, and however the pressure may affect the viscosity. But the analysis is greatly simplified by omitting all terms depending on compressibility and by taking p constant; this may be done without loss of generality in a qualitative sense. With these limitations we have for the differential See also:equation of the equili- brium of the lubricant:—, o=du+d2 +See also:dw °=dz—pv2u;&c., dx dy dz 0=p,x—p (dau yax) , &c., &c. These are subject to the boundary conditions (2) and (3). Taking x as measured parallel to one of the surfaces in the direction of relative motion, y normal to the surface and z normal to the See also:plane of xy by See also:condition (3), we may without See also:error disregard the effect of any curvature in the surfaces. Also v is small compared with u and w, and the See also:variations of u and w in the directions x and z are small compared with their variation in the direction y. The equations (I) reduce to o_dp—pd22 o_dp °dp d2w du dv dw dx dy dy, dz pdyz' °=dx+dy+dz du dw °=pvx-pay, °=p„x-pay, pxx=o. For the boundary conditions, putting f(x, z) as limiting the lateral area of the lubricant, the conditions at the surfaces may be expressed thus: when y=h, u=U,, w=o, when f(x, z) =o, 1i.=po - Then, integrating the equations (2) over y, and determining the constants by equations (3), we have, since by the second of equations (2) p is independent of y, u=zpd (Y-h)Y+Uo h yb y+Unit w=zdz(y—h)Y Then, differentiating equations (4) with respect to x and z respectively, and substituting in the 4th of equations (2), and integrating from y=o to y=h, so that only the values of vat the surfaces may be required, we have for the differential equation of normal pressure at any point x, z, between the boundaries: Id (had) +dz (h3dl) =6p (Uo+UI)axZ+2V, (5) Again differentiating equations (4), with respect to x and z respectively, and substituting in the 5th and 6th of equations (2), and putting fx and fx for the intensities of the tangential stresses at the See also:lower and upper surfaces: h dp fx=p(U,-'-Uo) tax fx=~2d (I) (2) when y=o, u=Uo, w=o, v=o v1=U12+Vi (3) (4) (6) Equations (5) and (6) are the general equations for the stresses at the boundaries at x, z, when h is a continuous See also:function of x and z, µ and p being constant. For the integration of equations (6) to get the resultant stresses and moments on the solid boundaries, so as to obtain the conditions of their equilibrium, it is necessary to know how x and z at any point on the boundary enter into It, as well as the equation f(x, z)=o, which determines the limits of the lubricating film.

If y, the normal to one of the surfaces, has not the same direction for all points of this surface, in other words, if the surface is not plane, x and z be-come See also:

curvilinear co-ordinates, at all points perpendicular See also:toy. Since, for lubrication, one of the surfaces must be plane, cylindrical, or a surface of revolution, we may put x = Re, y = r — R, and z perpendicular to the plane of motion. Then., if the data are sufficient, the resultant stresses and moments between the surfacesare obtained by integrating the intensity of the stress and moments of intensity of stress over the surface. This, however, is not the usual problem that arises. What is generally wanted is to find the thickness of the film where least (ho) and its angular position with respect to direction of load, to resist a definite load with a particular surface velocity. If the surfaces are plane, the general solution involves only one arbitrary constant, the least thickness (ho) ; since in any particular case the variation of h with x is necessarily fixed, as in this case lubrication affords no automatic See also:adjustment of this slope. When both surfaces are curved in the plane of motion there are at least two arbitrary constants, ho, and ¢ the angular position of ho with respect to direction of load ; while if the surfaces are both curved in a plane perpendicular to the direction of motion as well as in the plane of motion, there are three arbitrary constants, ho, zo. The only constraint necessary is to prevent rotation in the plane of motion of one of the surfaces, leaving this surface See also:free to move in any direction and to adjust its position so as to be in equilibrium under the load. The integrations necessary for the solutions of these problems are practicable—complete or approximate—and have been effected for circumstances which include the See also:chief cases of practical lubrication, the results having been verified by reference to Tower's experiments. In this way the verified theory is available for guidance outside the limits of experience as well as for determining the limiting conditions. But it is necessary to take into account certain subsidiary theories. These limits depend on the coefficient of viscosity, which diminishes as the temperature increases.

The See also:

total See also:work in overcoming the resistance is spent in generating See also:heat in the lubricant, the See also:volume of which is very small. Were it not for the See also:escape of heat by See also:conduction through the lubricant and the metal, lubrication would be impossible. Hence a knowledge of the empirical law of the variation of the viscosity of the lubricant with temperature, the coefficients of conduction of heat in the lubricant and in the metal, and the application of the theory of the flow of heat in the particular circumstances, are necessary adjuncts to the theory of lubrication for determining the limits of lubrication. Nor is this all, for the shapes of the solid surfaces vary with the pressure, and more particularly with the temperature. The theory of lubrication has been applied to the explanation of the slipperiness of See also:ice (Mem. See also:Manchester Lit. and Phil. See also:Soc., 1899). (O.

End of Article: LUBRICATION

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