Comparisons of Tribological and Vibration Behaviors of Textured Point Contacts of Bearing Steel Lubricated With Oil and Grease Under Starved Conditions

Friction, wear, and vibration behaviors of oil-and grease-lubricated laser textured point contacts formed between AISI 52100 steel surfaces have been experimentally investigated under the unidirectional sliding motion using a ball-on-disk configuration. The performance behaviors of lubricated concentrated contacts formed between the lapped disk/lapped ball and textured disk/lapped ball have been compared at two Hertzian pressures (0.4 GPa and 0.7 GPa) and two sliding speeds (0.8 m/s and 2.4 m/s) using lubricating oil and grease. For the geometric configuration of point contacts adopted in the investigations, the textured point contacts lubricated with grease yielded reductions in the friction coefficient and specific wear rate (SWR) of the balls as compared to the oil-lubricated textured contacts. Moreover, reduction in the amplitudes of vibrations (at normal contact resonance frequencies) has also been observed with the grease-lubricated textured point contacts in comparison to the corresponding oil-lubricated cases.