An experimental study on the tribological performance of water-lubricated journal bearings with three different materials
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
ISSN: 0036-8792
Article publication date: 1 May 2020
Issue publication date: 13 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The tribological behavior, i.e. friction coefficient and wear rate, and vibration characteristics of the water-lubricated bearing was investigated. The water-lubricated bearing is made of three different materials, i.e. polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK), polyimide (PI) and nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR).
Design/methodology/approach
The tribological behavior was investigated experimentally on a specially designed test rig. Three vibration sensors were used to record the vibration of the bearing.
Findings
The results indicated that the variation of friction coefficient with rotation speed agrees well with the trend of Stribeck curve. The tested friction coefficient of rubber bearing is higher than that of the other two bearings whether it is in the state of mixed-lubrication or hydrodynamic lubrication, and which causing a larger wear rate in rubber bearing. The PEEK bearing exhibits the best tribological properties due to it has smaller friction coefficient and wear rate. However, it can be found that the rubber bearing gives the minimum vibration acceleration, which means that the rubber bearing has the most potential to improve the stability of water-lubricated bearing rotor system.
Originality/value
In this study, a group of experiment studies conducted on a specially designed test rig. The comprehensive performance, including friction coefficient, vibration acceleration and wear rate, of water-lubricated bearing with three different materials, i.e. PEEK, PI and NBR, was compared systematically. The experiment research may offer a reference for the selection of material in water-lubricated bearing in specific operating conditions.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-10-2019-0447/
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article Han, Y., Yin, L., Xiang, G., Zhou, G., Chen, H. and Zheng, X. (2020), “An experimental study on the tribological performance of water-lubricated journal bearings with three different materials”, Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, contained a visual error in Figure 3. The correct Figure 3 has now been updated to the online version. The authors sincerely apologise for this.
The present study is partially supported by The State Key Laboratory of mechanical transmission open fund (SKLMT-KFKT-201708), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51605053, 51975064 and 51605316) and the Major Research and Development Project of Innovation Program on the Common and Key Technologies of Key Industries (cstc2017zdcy-zdzxX0001), the General Projects of Basic Science and Frontier Technology Research of Chongqing (cstc2018jcyjAX0442 and cstc2018jcyjAX0451).
Citation
Han, Y., Yin, L., Xiang, G., Zhou, G., Chen, H. and Zheng, X. (2020), "An experimental study on the tribological performance of water-lubricated journal bearings with three different materials", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 72 No. 10, pp. 1159-1165. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-10-2019-0447
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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