Frictional wear? Here's how to reduce it!
Wear caused by friction represents the progressive and continuous loss of material from solid surfaces, in mutual movement and contact, for mechanical reasons.
If not suitably equipped with a uniform lubricating film, any mechanical device can meet such a fate.
This is because friction is the force that opposes the movement of two bodies in mutual contact. Yet, if we interpose a lubricating fluid between them, two different types of friction may be generated.
The first is external friction, deriving mainly from the microscopic contact that is created between the surfaces, which tend to adhere to each other causing deformation of materials and grooves.
The second type is internal friction, existing between the molecules in the lubricating film interposed between the materials in friction (also called viscosity). This represents one of the most important variables in the adequate formulation of lubricating fluids in relation to the variables present in the tribosystem.
The tribosystem is the set of conditions and variables that immediately affect the friction process.
Its definition rests on four fundamental concepts:
The choice of lubricating fluid can significantly affect the duration and efficiency of a mechanical device. Therefore, it is important to investigate and measure the actual conditions in which the tribosystem operates in order to develop the correct functional lubricant fluid for the coefficient of friction.
One method for identifying how the friction conditions vary in relation to the reciprocal sliding speeds is the use of the Stribeck curve, in which the coefficient of friction is related to the dynamic conditions of the surfaces in contact.
From the image, it is possible to identify three different areas of operation with the relative course of the friction coefficient:
The constitution of a persistent lubricating film under all friction conditions represents the result to which every lubricant formulation must strive.
To know how and when to use a synthetic lubricant and, above all, which one to choose, download our free guide!
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