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It has recently been shown that rectangular surface pockets are effective in reducing friction in a piston–liner type contact, providing that they are oriented with their long axis transverse to th...

This paper presents an experimental study into the flow behaviour of lubricant in a reciprocating contact simulating a piston ring–cylinder liner pair. The aim was to understand the effects of cavitation, starvation and surface texture, as well as the interaction between these, in order to improve automotive engine performance. A custom-built test rig was used, in which a section of piston ring is loaded against a reciprocating, laser-textured, fused silica pad representing the liner. A fluorescence microscope focusses through the silica specimen onto the contact in order to image the distribution of dyed oil. Tests were performed using a range of texture geometries and orientations, under starved and fully-flooded lubrication conditions, with measurements being compared against those from a non-textured reference. Under limited oil supply conditions, the non-textured reciprocating contact sweeps oil towards the reversal points (TDC and BDC), leading to starvation and increased friction. This issue is alleviated by the presence of surface texturing, with each pocket transferring oil from the inlet to the outlet of the contact as it passes; the result being 33% lower friction and oil distributed evenly over the liner surface. Even under fully flooded conditions, starvation is shown to occur following each reversal, as the change in sliding direction causes the cavitated outlet to become the oil-deprived inlet. This proof of cavitation-reversal-starvation, which occurs for up to the first 5% of the stroke length, depending on the lubricant’s viscosity, corresponds to regions of high wear, measured in this study and on actual cylinder liners reported in the literature. This process is also counteracted by the presence of surface texture, with each pocket depositing oil into the cavitated region prior to reversal. Fluorescence data also provides insights into other mechanisms with which different textures geometries control friction. Grooves oriented parallel to sliding direction increase friction as they appear to connect the high pressure inlet with the low pressure outlet, leading to oil film collapse. Grooves oriented transverse to sliding direction produce localised cavitation inside each pocket, which supports the theory that texture draws lubricant into the contact through the ‘inlet suction’ mechanism. These findings can aid texture design by showing how pockets can be used in practice to simultaneously control oil consumption, and reduce friction and wear along the stroke. It should be noted that the lubricant transport mechanisms described above should also result from other types of depressions, such those produced by porous coatings (provided they are smaller than the contact area).

Triboemission – i.e. the emission of photons, electrons and other charged particles that arise from a sliding contact – may play a key role in tribochemical processes, such as lubricant degradation. However, the mechanisms that give rise to this type of emission are not well understood. For the first time, we present spatially resolved measurements of electron emission, obtained as a range materials are worn. These are obtained from scratch tests, carried out under vacuum conditions (10−5 Torr), in which microchannel plates coupled to a phosphor screen are used to image electron emission. The results show that electron emission occurs at specific locations on the worn surface and, depending on the conductivity of the material, these sites remain active and decay with a time constant of up to several seconds. SEM images of the worn surface at these sites reveal that either surface fractures or grain defects are present. This suggests that fractoemission mechanisms are at least partially responsible for triboemission (however, the possible contribution of tribocharging mechanisms are also discussed). Specifically, this provides evidence to support the theory that triboemission results from the imbalance of charge on opposing faces of wear cracks and that this generates an electric field sufficient to accelerate molecular fracture products, which then bombard the surface leading to secondary emission. The strong geometric correlation between damage topography and electron emission distributions shows the potential of using this technique to monitoring wear and crack formation in real time and under high (30x) magnification.

We present a study on the simultaneous evolution of the electron emission and surface charge accumulation that occurs during scratching tests in order to monitor coating failure. Steel discs coated with a diamond-like-carbon (DLC) film were scratched in both vacuum (~10−5 Torr) and atmospheric conditions, with electron emission and surface charge being measured by a system of microchannel plates and an electrometer, respectively. The results highlight a positive correlation between emission intensity values, surface charge measurements and surface damage topography, suggesting the effective use of these techniques to monitor coating wear in real time.