Tribological Behavior for Vein-bionic Textured Cylindrical Roller Thrust Bearing System under Starved Lubrication

AbstractThe aim of the present work was to investigate the tribological behavior for each component of vein-bionic textured cylindrical roller thrust bearings and reveal the influence of chief vein on tribological performance of bearing system under starved lubrication. Two types of vein-bionic texture patterns derived from five kinds of leaves namely Forsythia, Clausena lansium, Ash, Pipal, and Apricot were prepared on the raceway of the shaft washer of cylindrical roller thrust bearings (CRTBs) by a fiber laser marking system. A vertical universal wear test rig with a customized tribo-pair was used to measure the coefficients of friction (COFs) of bearings under starved lubrication. The wear losses of shaft washer, cage, and housing washer were obtained, respectively, and the worn surfaces were characterized. The results show that the total wear losses for CRTB system were dominated by losses of the cage under starved lubrication. The lubricant impacted by different vein-bionic textures play a more significant role in generating the preferable nylon film instead of the amount of nylon powder. Additionally, larger area nylon film was observed for vein-bionic textures with no-chief vein, which correlates with larger wear losses for whole CRTB system. Due to the excellent secondary lubrication effect generated by chief vein, the nylon film with enhanced friction-reduction property can easily obtained, and the mass losses for bearing system were greatly decreased under starved lubrication.Keywords: Rolling element bearingVein-bionic textureLaser surface texturingTribological behaviorStarved lubricationDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.