Advanced
search

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Surface texture processing for tribological performance improvement of UHMWPE-based water-lubricated bearings

Zumin Wu (Key Laboratory of Marine Power Engineering and Technology (Ministry of Transport), Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China and China and Reliability Engineering Institute, National Engineering Research Center for Water Transportation Safety, Wuhan, China)
Chenxing Sheng (Key Laboratory of Marine Power Engineering and Technology (Ministry of Transport), Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China and China and Reliability Engineering Institute, National Engineering Research Center for Water Transportation Safety, Wuhan, China)
Zhiwei Guo (Key Laboratory of Marine Power Engineering and Technology (Ministry of Transport), Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China and China and Reliability Engineering Institute, National Engineering Research Center for Water Transportation Safety, Wuhan, China)
Yifei Li (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA)
Reza Malekian (Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa)
Zhixiong Li (School of Mechatronics Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China and School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

ISSN: 0036-8792

Article publication date: 10 August 2018

Issue publication date: 22 August 2018

261

Abstract

Purpose

Water-lubricated bearings can significantly reduce the pollution to environment because the traditional oil lubricant is replaced by water in the bearings. The ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has proven to be effective and reliable for the manufacturing of water-lubricated bearings. However, limited work has been done to address the improvement of the tribological performance of the UHMWPE-based water-lubricated bearings using surface texture processing. This paper aims to investigate the effects of bar-grooved surface on the tribological performance improvement of UHMWPE-based water-lubricated bearings.

Design/methodology/approach

For the first time, the bar grooves were processed on the surfaces of UHMWPE-based water-lubricated bearings. The CBZ-1 friction and wear tester have been used to test the wear and friction performance of the bearing samples. The LI laser interference surface contour graph and the digital microscope have been used to measure the surface morphology of the specimens. The tribological characteristics of the tested bearings were analyzed.

Findings

With bar grooves added on the surfaces of the specimens, the friction coefficient of the specimens were lower than that of the specimens without surface texture processing; the wear quantity of the two kinds of specimens were almost the same; by using the LI laser interference surface contour graph and the digital microscope to measure the surface morphology of the specimens, the furrows of the specimens with bar grooves were narrower and shallower than that of the specimens without bar grooves.

Practical implications

The paper implicates that the surface texture processing using bar grooves can reduce the friction coefficient and prolong the service life of the water-lubricated bearings in practical applications.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to provide important theoretical and experimental support to the design of water-lubricated bearings in practical applications.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the reviewers. This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51509195 and 51422507) and Yingcai Project of China University of Mining and Technology (No. YC2017001).

Citation

Wu, Z., Sheng, C., Guo, Z., Li, Y., Malekian, R. and Li, Z. (2018), "Surface texture processing for tribological performance improvement of UHMWPE-based water-lubricated bearings", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 70 No. 7, pp. 1341-1349. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-06-2017-0184

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles

Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

Join us on our journey