AI Chat Paper
Note: Please note that the following content is generated by AMiner AI. SciOpen does not take any responsibility related to this content.
{{lang === 'zh_CN' ? '文章概述' : 'Summary'}}
{{lang === 'en_US' ? '中' : 'Eng'}}
Chat more with AI
Home Friction Article
PDF (10.4 MB)
Collect
Submit Manuscript AI Chat Paper
Show Outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Research Article | Open Access

Influence of water evaporation on elastohydrodynamic lubrication with water-containing polyalkylene glycols

Stefan HOFMANN( )Thomas LOHNERKarsten STAHL
Technical University of Munich, School of Engineering and Design, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gear Research Center (FZG), Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching near Munich, Germany
Show Author Information

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

The reduction of frictional power losses in power transmitting gears takes a crucial role in the design of energy- and resource-efficient drivetrains. Water-containing lubricants like glycerol and polyalkylene glycols have shown great potential in achieving friction within the superlubricity regime with coefficients of friction lower than 0.01 under elastohydrodynamic lubrication. Additionally, a bio-based production of the base stocks can lead to the development of green lubricants. However, one challenge associated with the application of water-containing lubricants to gearboxes is the evaporation of water and its impact on the lubricant properties. In this study, the influence of water evaporation on elastohydrodynamic friction and film thickness was investigated for three water-containing polyalkylene glycols. Two nominal water contents of 20 wt% and 40 wt% and two viscosities were considered. The results show that the friction increases continuously with higher evaporated water content, while the overall friction level remains low in nearly water-free states. A similar trend is observed for film thickness, where the strong increase in viscosity results in a notable increase in film thickness. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of friction and film thickness to water evaporation is low for small amounts of evaporated water. This allows generous thresholds for permissible variations in water content.

References

[1]

Chen Z, Liu Y H, Zhang S H, Luo J B. Controllable superlubricity of glycerol solution via environment humidity. Langmuir 29(38): 11924–11930 (2013)

[2]

Shi Y J, Minami I, Grahn M, Björling M, Larsson R. Boundary and elastohydrodynamic lubrication studies of glycerol aqueous solutions as green lubricants. Tribol Int 69: 39–45 (2014)

[3]

Wang H D, Liu Y H, Li J J, Luo J B. Investigation of superlubricity achieved by polyalkylene glycol aqueous solutions. Adv Mater Interfaces 3(19): 1600531 (2016)

[4]

Ge X Y, Li J J, Zhang C H, Luo J B. Liquid superlubricity of polyethylene glycol aqueous solution achieved with boric acid additive. Langmuir 34(12): 3578–3587 (2018)

[5]

Yilmaz M, Mirza M, Lohner T, Stahl K. Superlubricity in EHL contacts with water-containing gear fluids. Lubricants 7(5): 46 (2019)

[6]

Yilmaz M, Lohner T, Michaelis K, Stahl K. Minimizing gear friction with water-containing gear fluids. Engineering Research 83(3): 327–337 (2019)

[7]

Sagraloff N, Dobler A, Tobie T, Stahl K, Ostrowski J. Development of an oil free water-based lubricant for gear applications. Lubricants 7(4): 33 (2019)

[8]
Sedlmair M, Lohner T, Stahl K. Increasing gearbox efficiency of battery electric vehicles with water-containing fluids. In: Proceedings of the 61th German Tribology Conference, Göttingen, Germany, 2020.
[9]

Morhard B, Schweigert D, Mileti M, Sedlmair M, Lohner T. Efficient lubrication of a high-speed electromechanical powertrain with holistic thermal management. Engineering Research 85: 443–456 (2021)

[10]

Han T Y, Zhang S W, Zhang C H. Unlocking the secrets behind liquid superlubricity: A state-of-the-art review on phenomena and mechanisms. Friction 10(8): 1137–1165 (2022)

[11]

Tamayo J G Z, Björling M, Shi Y J, Prakash B, Larsson R. Micropitting performance of glycerol-based lubricants under rolling-sliding contact conditions. Tribol Int 167: 107348 (2022)

[12]

Hofmann S, Lohner T, Stahl K. Influence of water content on elastohydrodynamic friction and film thickness of water-containing polyalkylene glycols. Front Mech Eng 9: 1128447 (2023)

[13]

Poláček T, Šperka P, Křupka I. Liquid superlubricity of lubricants containing hydroxyl groups and their aqueous solution under rolling/sliding conditions. Friction 12(1): 164–173 (2024)

[14]

Escobar W. Understanding polyalkylene glycols (and where to apply them). Tribol & Lubr Technol 64: 34–39 (2008)

[15]

Du C H, Yu T T, Zhang L Q, Deng H Y, Shen R L, Li X J, Feng Y G, Wang D A. Macroscale superlubricity with ultralow wear and ultrashort running-in period (~1 s) through phytic acid-based complex green liquid lubricants. ACS Appl Mater Inter 15(7): 10302–10314 (2023)

[16]

Du C H, Yu T T, Wu Z S, Zhang L Q, Shen R L, Li X J, Feng M, Feng Y G, Wang D A. Achieving macroscale superlubricity with ultra-short running-in period by using polyethylene glycol-tannic acid complex green lubricant. Friction 11(5): 748–762 (2023)

[17]

Ge X Y, Halmans T, Li J J, Luo J B. Molecular behaviors in thin film lubrication: Part three: Superlubricity attained by polar and nonpolar molecules. Friction 7(6): 625–636 (2019)

[18]

Liu W R, Wang H D, Liu Y H, Li J J, Erdemir A, Luo J B. Mechanism of superlubricity converison with polyalkylene glycol aqueous solution. Langmuir 35(36): 11784–11790 (2019)

[19]

Han T Y, Yi S, Zhang C H, Li J J, Chen X C, Luo J B, Banquy X. Superlubrication obtained with mixtures of hydrated ions and polyethylene glycol solutions in the mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication regimes. J Colloid Interface Sci 579: 479–488 (2020)

[20]

Han K, Ma P S, Ma L R, Tian Y, Luo J B. Investigation of the running-in process in photoinduced superlubricity. Front Mater 10: 1109890 (2023)

[21]

Lohner T, Mayer J, Michaelis K, Höhn B R, Stahl K. On the running-in behavior of lubricated line contacts. P I Mech Eng J—J Eng 231(4): 441–452 (2017)

[22]

Zhang C H, Zhao Y C, Björling M, Wang Y, Luo J B, Prakash B. EHL properties of polyalkylene glycols and their aqueous solutions. Tribol Lett 45(3): 379–385 (2012)

[23]
PCS Instruments. MTM2 Operating Manual 2019, Version 5.
[24]

Hartl M. Differential colorimetry: Tool for evaluation of chromatic interference patterns. Opt Eng 36(9): 2384 (1997)

[25]

Omasta M, Ebner M, Šperka P, Lohner T, Krupka I, Hartl M, Hoehn B R, Stahl K. Film formation in EHL contacts with oil-impregnated sintered materials. Ind Lubr Tribol 70(4): 612–619 (2018)

[26]

De Oliveira L H, Pinto R R, de S E, Filho M, Aznar M. Density, refractive index, pH, and cloud point temperature measurements and thermal expansion coefficient calculation for PPG400, PE62, L64, L35, PEG400, PEG600, or PEG1000 + water systems. J Chem Eng Data 66(8): 2959–2975 (2021)

[27]

Han F, Zhang J B, Chen G H, Wei X H. Density, viscosity, and excess properties for aqueous poly(ethylene glycol) solutions from (298.15 to 323.15) K. J Chem Eng Data 53(11): 2598–2601 (2008)

[28]
Burbank J, Rausch J, Luther R, Kraft G. New approaches to extreme friction reductions with lubricants. In: Proceedings of the 22nd International Colloquium Tribology, 2020.
[29]

Hamrock B J, Dowson D. Isothermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication of point contacts: Part 1—Theoretical formulation. J Lubr Technol 98(2): 223–228 (1976)

[30]

Asada K, Cayer-Barrioz J, Mazuyer D. Elastohydrodynamic film formation and sol/gel transition of aqueous fluids. Tribol Lett 70(4): 97 (2022)

[31]

Zhang J, Tan A, Spikes H. Effect of base oil structure on elastohydrodynamic friction. Tribol Lett 65(1): 13 (2016)

[32]

Kim H M, Spikes H. Correlation of elastohydrodynamic friction with molecular structure of highly refined hydrocarbon base oils. Tribol Lett 68(1): 23 (2020)

[33]
Rittinger J, Kumar R, Wolf T, Luther R. Measurements setup for the conditions monitoring of water-based lubricants. In: Proceedings of the Nextlube Conference 2023, Düsseldorf, Germany.
[34]

Buzzi O, Yuan S Y, Routley B. Development and validation of a new near-infrared sensor to measure polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentration in water. Sensors 17(6): 1354 (2017)

Friction
Pages 2370-2388
Cite this article:
HOFMANN S, LOHNER T, STAHL K. Influence of water evaporation on elastohydrodynamic lubrication with water-containing polyalkylene glycols. Friction, 2024, 12(10): 2370-2388. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0916-1

121

Views

4

Downloads

0

Crossref

0

Web of Science

0

Scopus

0

CSCD

Altmetrics

Received: 09 February 2024
Revised: 22 March 2024
Accepted: 14 April 2024
Published: 14 August 2024
© The author(s) 2024.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Return