Correlation of Scuffing Experiments With EHL Analysis of Rough Surfaces

Abstract

Scuffing experiments were conducted on a twin disk machine using straight mineral oil. The purpose of these experiments was to validate some existing scuffing theories based on the breakdown of lubrication film in concentrated partial ehl (elastohydrodynamic lubrication) contacts. The verify these scuffing theories, a model for solving the complete inlet half ehl solution to the line contact between two rough longitudinally ground surfaces was developed. This ehl contact model was based on a newly developed concept, “average gap.” The effect of surface roughness on lubrication was taken into account by simulating the contacts between many different pairs of rough surfaces. In order to solve for the ehl contact solutions of the two disks under scuffing conditions, the actual run-in surface profiles of the mating disks, digitized just prior to failure, were used. Finally the correlations were made between the scuffing theory and the experimental data.