The success of solid lubricants to exhibit ultra-low friction and wear behaviors in oil-prohibiting environments, has led to a major effort to optimize their performance and enhance their applicability. Depending on the operating conditions, solid lubricants may take on a plethora of forms including fabricated composite coatings, thick-film powder lubricants, nano-particle additives for hard surfaces or liquid lubricants, and self-replenishing transfer films. One of the benefits of transfer films are their freedom from the complex deposition techniques required for most other solid lubricant systems. In this work, the potential for adaptive self-replenishing transfer films was explored by creating composite powders of well-known powder lubricants and electrically conductive or anti-oxidation materials. MoS 2 , WS 2 , and Graphite Powders were mixed in varying composition with Cu, Sb 2 O 3 , and BO 3 additives and compacted to form “tuned” or adaptive powder pellets. Relationships between friction, wear, electrical resistance, tribo-induced oxidation and powder composition, will be presented in order to investigate the potential of composite property optimization for lubricious, highly conductive, and oxidation resistant transfer films.

In the normal low-speed engine operation, elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of piston skirts and lubricant rheology reduce friction and prevent wear. In a few initial start up cycles, a very low engine speed and absence of EHL cause adhesive wear. This study models hydrodynamic and EHL of piston skirts in the initial very low cold engine start up speed by using a high viscosity lubricant. The 2-D Reynolds equation is solved and inverse solution technique is used to calculate the pressures and film thickness profiles in the hydrodynamic and EHL regimes, respectively. The work is extended to investigate the effects of three very low initial engine start up speeds on the transverse eccentricities of piston skirts, film thickness profiles and pressure fields in the hydrodynamic and EHL regimes. Despite using a viscous lubricant, thin EHL film profiles are generated at low start up speeds. This study suggests very low speed optimization in the cold initial engine start up conditions to prevent piston wear under isothermal conditions.

Quick response and rheological properties as a function of magnetic field are well known features of MR fluids which inspire their usage as brake materials. Controllable torque and minimum weight of brake system are the deciding functions based on which the viability of the MR brake against the conventional hydraulic brake system can be judged. The aim of this study is to optimize a multi-disk magneto-rheological brake system considering torque and weight as objective functions and geometric dimensions of conventional hydraulic brake as constraints. The electric current accounting magnetic saturation, MR gap, number of disk, thickness of disk, and outer diameter of disk have been considered as design variables. To model the behavior of MR Fluid, Bingham and Herschel Bulkley models have been compared. To implement these models in estimating the braking torque a modification in shear rate dependent component has been proposed. The overall design of MR brake has been optimized using a hybrid (Genetic algorithm plus gradient based) optimization scheme of MATLAB software.

Great flexibility in prosthetic sockets, with long range of spring like action is needed while designing a socket. A finite element analysis is conducted to investigate the stress and displacement distribution for different socket cases where relief is needed. The relieved socket after optimization of the pressure distribution areas showed less wear and more comfort for amputees than the non-relieved socket. A Design of Experiment using 2 level factorial design is used to optimize the relief areas with respect to pressure distribution. Stresses and displacements were included in the model desirability. Higher deformation of the pressure relief areas is sought while preserving the socket structural integrity. A compromise with the structural integrity of the socket and the optimized values with high desirability of the Design of Experiment Model imply that Duraform socket A with 1.69mm relief area could be the best design scenario between several cases. Wear and skin analysis indicated that the relieved socket is significantly better than the unrelieved one.

This paper describes the application of robust optimum design using the statistical method to the design of fluid dynamic bearings used for HDD spindle motors. Fluid dynamic bearings for HDD spindle motors are very small and generally manufactured by mass production process. Therefore, the bearings are demanded to easily manufacture the bearings and expected an insensitive design of the bearing which mean having low variability of bearing characteristics towards manufacturing errors. Hence, in this paper, the influence of bearing characteristics upon the occurrence of the manufacturing errors is conducted using the statistical method. As a result, the bearing with low variability of bearing characteristics can be obtained with the application of the new optimization method with the consideration of dimensional tolerances.

Under boundary and mixed lubrication surface roughness and topography have significant influence on the tribological behaviour of contact surfaces, where even a small change in surface topography can lead to a considerable change in tribological behaviour. In recent years an effort for better controlling friction and wear has been focused also on the surface topography modification, especially on surface texturing. The aim of the present research work was to investigate the possibility of using roughness parameters kurtosis and skewness as design parameters for optimizing texturing pattern in boundary and mixed lubricated contacts. Results of the investigation performed on groove and dimple textured surfaces under low load low sliding speed conditions confirm correlation between kurtosis and skewness parameters and coefficient of friction. For textured surfaces increase in kurtosis and more negative skewness, obtained by reducing cavity size, increasing cavity depth and decreasing texturing density were found to yield lower friction. Furthermore, kurtosis and skewness were recognized as suitable parameters for textured surfaces optimization. Through virtual texturing effect of different texturing parameters on kurtosis and skewness parameters can be identified and then optimized to result in reduced friction under boundary and mixed lubrication.

When dealing with mechanical systems including contact interfaces, two different mechanics at two different time and length scales have to be accounted for: the contact mechanics and the structural mechanics. The mechanics of the contact and the mechanics of structure are coupled by friction (forces and moments), local body deformations and wear (geometrical coupling). In the past, dynamic and tribological problems were treated separately and the analysis was focused either on the mechanism scales or on the contact scales, as a function of the problem. The analysis of the dynamic response of the mechanical system accounted for the contact interfaces thought global coefficients (global contact stiffness, damping, energy loss factor, etc.); vice versa, the analysis of the local behaviour at the contact interface accounted for the system dynamics imposing global boundary conditions on the contact model (pressure distribution, relative velocities, etc.). During last decades mechanical system design led to a power increase and to a drastic optimization, increasing as well the number of contact interfaces between deformable bodies. Thus, the need for coupling dynamic and tribological analyses arises for solving and understanding either wear phenomena or dynamic response of a mechanical system. On this sense, experimental tools showed their limits on the estimation and prediction of friction and wear phenomena. This paper proposes a first step toward a more general approach aimed to couple the dynamic analysis of the mechanism with the local tribological analysis at the contact, by the coupling of two different numerical models dealing with the two different scales. Two applications are then mentioned: the analysis of “false Brinelling” wear and the understanding of brake squeal instability.

Fluid film bearings are widely used for high speed rotating machineries acting as rotating shaft support element. Especially, the bearings are widely applied to the OA equipments and IT devices. Optimization of bearing parameters is effective to improve the performance of the fluid film bearings since low noise and impact-proof characteristics are essential requirements for these equipments. On the other hand, bearings for miniaturized spindles are generally made by mass production process which will eventually requires reduction of production costs. In this paper, therefore small size HDD spindle using fluid film bearings is treated. Sensitivity analysis and optimum design that considered dimensional tolerances using the probabilistic techniques are conducted. As a result, the influence of bearing characteristic values on the occurrence of dimensional tolerances was clarified.

In the manufacturing process of small size fluid film bearings, the machining errors of groove affect the bearing characteristics. This paper describes the optimum design of small size fluid film thrust bearings to reduce the characteristics variability caused by some productivity. Firstly, from the original result of the modified spiral bearing obtained by the geometrical optimization, critical bearing parameters related to sensitivity of dynamic stiffness was investigated. From the sensitivity analysis, it was clarified that the parameters of groove depth and groove ratio have high sensitivity towards bearing stiffness. In the optimum design with consideration of productivity, errors for groove depth and groove ratio were given using probability theory with restriction towards the dynamic stiffness variability. From the results, the reduction of dynamic stiffness variability was accomplished. Furthermore, even if the manufacturing errors exist, the optimized bearing is operated safely without contact because it is able to stay in the range of the allowable film thickness.

Slider with thermal fly height control (TFC) uses a thermal heater to produce localized thermal protrusion and adjust the vertical position of the read/write head. This paper reports authors’ efforts in exploring large protrusion stroke with minimal heater power input whilst preserving heater robustness in the TFC slider, with an optimized thermal nano-actuator design. Effects of both heater line width and line spacing on TFC slider performances are investigated. A novel ‘Stream-River’ heater design approach is proposed. Simulation results conclude that the “Stream-River” approach is of both high power-protrusion efficiency and high heater robustness.

A logarithmic profile is an essentially optimal geometry for rolling machine elements such as bearing rollers and raceways. Under most conditions of loading, it yields less stresses to give longer endurance. Lundberg first suggested the basic profile, and some researchers followed him by modifying it to satisfy engineering requirements. In this paper, the authors propose a mathematical optimization method for various profiles including a logarithmic one in roller bearing applications. Moreover, rolling contact fatigue life tests are carried out to make a comparison among logarithmically-crowned, standard partially-crowned and modified partially-crowned rollers. Results show that the logarithmic and modified partially crowned rollers are comparable in fatigue life, although the logarithmic rollers require less working effort to process the crowning.

We present a new method to determine the film height distribution of the load-optimal hydrodynamic slider for multiple operating conditions. The use of the method is demonstrated in two examples, the second of which is based on the load conditions in an artificial hip-joint during a standard walking cycle. The results of this optimization may lead to an improved design of the replacement hip-joint, resulting in less wear and an improved lifespan.

The tribology of hot forming processes is highly critical for the quality of formed aluminum panels and the cost-effectiveness of hot forming. In this report a flat-on-flat experimental technique for tribological evaluation of a single stroke was used to investigate the effect of sliding speed on the operative friction coefficient (FC) and tribological failure of the tribo-pairs used in Quick Plastic Forming (QPF) and warm forming processes.

Grooved thrust air bearings are widely used to support high-speed, low-loaded shafts in many rotating systems because of their low friction, noiseless operation, and simple structure. Several types of groove geometries, such as straight line, spiral, and herringbone, are commonly used in actual applications. Among them the spiral groove is mainly used. However, as far as the authors know, there is no theoretical evidence that the spiral groove is an optimized groove geometry in all possible groove geometries. This paper describes the optimum design for the groove geometry of thrust air bearings according to various objective functions, such as air film thickness, bearing torque, dynamic stiffness of air film, and combinations of same. In an optimum design, groove geometries are expressed by the third degrees of spline function, and sequential quadratic programming is used as the optimization method. We found that groove geometry optimizing air film thickness or friction torque takes the form of a spiral groove. The geometry optimizing the dynamic stiffness is the modified spiral groove. Some numerical results are compared with the measured data, and good agreements can be seen between them.

Since being originally introduced, cylindrical rolling element bearings have been significantly improved, in terms of their performance and working life. A major objective has been to decrease the Hertz contact stresses at the roller–raceway interfaces, because these are the most heavily stressed areas in a bearing. It has been shown that bearing life is inversely proportional to the stress raised to the ninth power (even higher). Investigators have proposed that under large normal loads a hollow element with a sufficiently thin wall thickness will deflect appreciably more than a solid element of the same size. An improvement in load distribution and thus load capacity may be realized, as well as contact stress is also reduced considerably by using a bearing with hollow rolling elements. Since for hollow rolling element no method is available for the calculation of contact stresses and deformation. The contact stresses in hollow members are often calculated by using the same equations and procedures as for solid specimens. This approach seems to be incorrect. Recently, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been successfully used to evaluate contact problems for the roller bearings. Investigations have been made for hollow rollers in pure normal loading. Different hollowness percentages ranging from 0% to 90% have been analysed in FEA software to find the optimum percentage hollowness which gives minimum stress and finally longest fatigue life.

A hybrid interactive/optimization technique is used to derive in approximate closed form equations relating contact load to mean plane separation. Equations governing Hertz contact for the interaction of surface asperities are considered in which asperity shoulder-to-shoulder contact results in normal and tangential components of force. The normal component of asperity force is summed statistically to find total normal force between the two surfaces. The tangential component of asperity force, summed statistically, yields zero total force due to the symmetry of the distributed tangential force components. The tangential force over a half-plane corresponding to a select direction is found accounting for the directionality of the tangential component of asperity forces. Two sets of approximate equations are found for each of the normal and half-plane tangential force components. The simplest forms of the approximate equations achieve accuracy to within five (5) percent error, while other forms yield approximation error within 0.2 percent.

Methodical approach an evaluation of synthesis of alumosilicates on the surface of EG-particles in order to improve the thermooxidazing resistance of the graphite. Using perspective trends in formation of exfoliated graphite (EG)-based lightweight composition materials by synthesis of non-organic combinations on the surface of EG-particles, it was proved the possibility of purposeful change of properties both of EG-powder surface and modified EG-based moulded materials. Using the nanotribospectral test method, we have developed approaches to the study thermo-oxide and product manufacturing processes of the modified EG-based lightweight materials. It has been found that the parameters of the nanotribospectral test method are sensitive to the structural reorganisation processes that proceed in the bulk of the material and may be used for the optimisation product process and high estimation and monitoring of its quality.

Thermomechanical actuation (TMA) at the transducer region of the air bearing surface (ABS) protrudes the transducers toward the recording media, yet also results in greater air bearing slider lift. The ratio of these two effects is defined as the TMA efficiency. An expression based on dimensional analysis is introduced to describe the changes of air bearing forces due to TMA protrusion. A framework is proposed that facilitates optimization of ABS design for improved TMA efficiency. On the basis of the theory presented, several ABSs are designed to have different TMA efficiency. Numerical solutions of these air bearings respect to the protrusion shows agreement with the proposed theory.

Hydrodynamic gas film bearings are widely used for very high speed, lightly loaded rotating machinery. In the design of hydrodynamic gas film bearings, it is of cardinal importance to enhance the stiffness of gas films for minimizing the vibration due to external excitations. Among various types of hydrodynamic gas film thrust bearings, grooved bearings have an advantage of high stiffness and load carrying capacity, but the stiffness of the bearings strongly depends on groove geometry. Therefore, when the groove geometry is designed suitably, it is expected to improve considerably the stability characteristics of the bearings. However, the conventional bearing geometries are based on the fixed logarithmic spiral curve, and there is no literature treating how to change effectively the groove geometry to improve drastically the bearing characteristics. In this paper, the entirely new optimum design methodology, in which the groove geometry can be changed flexibly by using the spline function, is presented to maximize the stiffness of gas films for grooved thrust bearings, and the effectiveness of the methodology is verified experimentally.

A dynamic cylindrical bearing model was modified to analyze large bore cylindrical mill bearings with pin cages. A factor-response methodology was coupled to the dynamic modeling input and output variables in order to generate a suitable transfer function for predicting bearing performance. Response optimization of the transfer function indicated that a traction-based parameter was determined to have the greatest effect on reducing roller slip and improving bearing performance.