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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Sputtered silver films to improve chromium carbide based solid lubricant coatings for use to 900 C

Thin silver films, 250 to 3500 A thick, were sputtered onto PS200, a plasma sprayed, chromium carbide based solid lubricant coating, to reduce run-in wear and improve tribological properties. The coating contains bonded chromium carbide as the wear resistant base stock with silver and barium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic added as low and high temperature lubricants respectively. Potential applications for the PS200 coating are cylinder wall/piston ring lubrication for Stirling engines and foil bearing journal lubrication. In this preliminary program, the silver film overlay thickness was optimized based on tests using a pin-on-disk tribometer. The friction and wear studies were performed in a helium atmosphere at temperatures from 25 to 760 C with a sliding velocity of 2.7 m/s under a 4.9 N load. Films between 1000 and 1500 A provide the best lubrication of the counterface material. The films enrich the sliding surface with lubricant and reduce the initial abrasiveness of the as ground, plasma-sprayed coating surface, thus reducing wear.

Dellacorte, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS1988

Sputtered silver films to improve chromium carbide based solid lubricant coatings for use to 900 C

Thin silver films, 250 to 3500 A thick, were sputtered onto PS200, a plasma sprayed, chromium carbide based solid lubricant coating, to reduce run-in wear and improve tribological properties. The coating contains bonded chromium carbide as the wear resistant base stock with silver and barium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic added as low and high temperature lubricants, respectively. Potential applications for the PS200 coating are cylinder wall/piston ring lubrication for Stirling engines and foil bearing journal lubrication. In this preliminary program, the silver film overlay thickness was optimized based on tests using a pin-on-disk tribometer. The friction and wear studies were performed in a helium atmosphere at temperatures from 25 to 760 C with a sliding velocity of 2.7 m/s under a 4.9 N load. Films between 1000 and 1500 A provide the best lubrication of the counterface material. The films enrich the sliding surface with lubricant and reduce the initial abrasiveness of the as ground, plasma-sprayed coating surface, thus reducing wear.

Dellacorte, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS1989

Evaluation of newly formulated Dow Corning 321 dry film lubricant

An evaluation of the newly formulated Dow Corning 321 dry film lubricant was performed. The purpose of the evaluation was to compare lubricating characteristics of Dow Corning 321 (STW4-2955, SCN No. 3) to those of Molykote 321R (STW4-2955). Ten igniter bolts were installed and torqued on test plates using the old formulation thread lubricant (Molykote 321R), and 10 bolts were installed using the new formulation (Dow Corning 321). After bolt removal, no signs of galling were found on any of the bolts or test plates threaded holes. Average torque-load values for each formulation were very close. Test results showed there are no significant differences in lubrication abilities between Molykote 321R and Dow Corning 321. It is recommended that, once current supplies of Molykote 321R are depleted, Dow Corning 321 dry film lubricant be used in place of Molykote 321R as a thread lubricant on redesigned solid rocket motor assemblies.

Cook, M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Equations For Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Of Bearings

Equation for thickness of elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubricant film in rolling-element bearing reduced to simplified form involving only inside and outside diameters of bearing, speed of rotation, parameter related to type of lubricant, and viscosity of lubricant at temperature of bearing. In addition, experimentally derived graph of EHD-film-thickness-reduction factor as function of contact-lubricant-flow number. Accounts for lubricant starvation within Hertzian contact. Graph relating ratio of minimum film thickness to composite roughness of bearing surfaces and to lubrication-life correction factor also provided. Life-correction factor used to determine resultant life of bearing.

Zaretsky, Erwin V.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Lubrication of Space Systems (c)

This article presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art tribology, some current and future perceived space lubrication problem areas, and some potential new lubrication technologies. It is the author's opinion that tribology technology, in general, has not significantly advanced over the last 20 to 30 years, even though some incremental improvements in the technology have occurred. There is a better understanding of elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication, some new lubricating and wear theories have been developed, and some new liquid and solid lubricants have been formulated. However, the important problems of being able to lubricate reliably at high temperatures or at cryogenic temperatures have not been adequately address.

Fusaro, Robert L.↗
NASA NTRS2002

In-situ, On-demand Lubrication System for Space Mechanisms

Many of today's spacecraft have long mission lifetimes. Whatever the lubrication method selected, the initial lubricant charge is required to last the entire mission. Fluid lubricant losses are mainly due to evaporation, tribo-degradation, and oil creep out of the tribological regions. In the past, several techniques were developed to maintain the appropriate amount of oil in the system. They were based on oil reservoirs (cartridges, impregnated porous parts), barrier films, and labyrinth seals. Nevertheless, all these systems have had limited success or have not established a proven record for space missions. The system reported here provides to the ball-race contact fresh lubricant in-situ and on demand. The lubricant is stored in a porous cartridge attached to the inner or the outer ring of a ball bearing. The oil is released by heating the cartridge to eject oil, taking advantage of the greater thermal expansion of the oil compared to the porous network. The heating may be activated by torque increases that signal the depletion of oil in the contact. The low surface tension of the oil compared to the ball bearing material is utilized and the close proximity of the cartridge to the moving balls allows the lubricant to reach the ball-race contacts. This oil resupply system can be used to avoid a mechanism failure or reduce torque to an acceptable level and extend the life of the component.

Marchetti, Mario↗
NASA NTRS1998

Ion Implantation of Perfluoropolyether-Lubricated Surfaces for Improved Tribological Performance

For over 30 years, perfluoropolyethers (PFPE's) have been the liquid lubricants of choice for space applications because of their proven tribological performance and desirable properties, such as low vapor pressure and a wide liquid temperature range. These oils are used in such space mechanisms as gyroscopes, scanning mirrors, actuators, and filter wheels. In the past few years, there have been several incidents during which PFPE-lubricated space mechanisms have shown anomalous behavior. These anomalies are thought to be the result of PFPE degradation. Investigative research focused on understanding and modeling the degradation of PFPE lubricants has shown that PFPE's degrade and lose their desirable properties while under boundary-lubricated, sliding/rolling contacts and at elevated temperatures. These performance deficiencies are strongly dependent on the surface chemistry and reactivity of the lubricated contacts, which dictate the formation of harmful catalytic by-products. One way to inhibit tribo-induced degradation may be to use passivated surfaces that do not promote the formation of harmful by-products. Such a passivated surface would inhibit PFPE degradation and increase the lifetime of the lubricated mechanism. Ion implantation is one such passivation technique. This surface-treatment technique can modify the surface properties of materials without affecting either the properties or dimensions of the bulk material beneath the treated layer. By introducing a foreign species into a submicron surface layer, ion implantation can induce unique surface microstructures.

Shogrin, Brad↗
NASA NTRS1999

High-Temperature Solid Lubricants Developed by NASA Lewis Offer Virtually "Unlimited Life" for Oil-Free Turbomachinery

The NASA Lewis Research Center is capitalizing on breakthroughs in foil air bearing performance, tribological coatings, and computer analyses to formulate the Oil-free Turbomachinery Program. The program s long-term goal is to develop an innovative, yet practical, oil-free aeropropulsion gas turbine engine that floats on advanced air bearings. This type of engine would operate at higher speeds and temperatures with lower weight and friction than conventional oil-lubricated engines. During startup and shutdown, solid lubricant coatings are required to prevent wear in such engines before the self-generating air-lubrication film develops. NASA s Tribology Branch has created PS304, a chrome-oxide-based plasma spray coating specifically tailored for shafts run against foil bearings. PS304 contains silver and barium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic (BaF2/CaF2) lubricant additives that, together, provide lubrication from cold start temperatures to over 650 C, the maximum use temperature for foil bearings. Recent lab tests show that bearings lubricated with PS304 survive over 100 000 start-stop cycles without experiencing any degradation in performance due to wear. The accompanying photograph shows a test bearing after it was run at 650 C. The rubbing process created a "polished" surface that enhances bearing load capacity.

DellaCorte, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS2010

Lubrication of Nitinol 60

The mechanical properties of Nitinol 60, 60 wt% Ni, 40 wt% Ti (55 at.% Ni, 45 at.% Ti) are sufficiently attractive to warrant its consideration as a lubricated triboelement. Triboelements are always run lubricated. The ability to lubricate Nitinol 60 by the oils usually used on spacecraft mechanisms--Pennzane 2001A, Krytox 143AC and Castrol 815Z--was experimentally determined. These oils were run in the boundary lubrication regime for Nitinol 60 balls running against Nitinol 60 counterfaces in the vacuum spiral orbit tribometer. Test results consisting of the coefficient of friction versus time (friction traces) and relative degradation rates of the oils are presented. Contrary to the inability to successfully lubricate other metal alloys with high titanium content, it was found that Nitinol 60 is able to be lubricated by these oils. Overall, the results presented here indicate that Nitinol 60 is a credible candidate material for bearing applications.

Pepper, Stephen V.↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Effect of Composition on the Surface Finish of PS400: A New High Temperature Solid Lubricant Coating

A new composite, multi-constituent, solid lubricant coating, NASA PS400, developed for high temperature tribological applications, exhibits a smoother surface finish after grinding and polishing than its predecessors PS200 and PS300. In this paper, the baseline composition of PS400 is modified to investigate each individual constituent s role on the achievable surface finish through a series of coating deposition, grinding, and polishing experiments. Furthermore, to explore the limits of compositional tailoring for improved tribological performance, several PS400 coatings were doped with additional solid lubricants (graphite, MoS2 and BN) and tribologically tested. The test results clearly showed that, compared to PS300 coatings, PS400 achieves a smoother surface finish via a reduced lubricant content. Coatings prepared with higher than the baseline level (10 wt%) of lubricants exhibited higher final surface roughness than the earlier generation PS300 coatings. Reducing or eliminating the one or both lubricants (fluorides or silver) did not further improve the surface finish suggesting that the current composition of PS400 is near optimal with respect to surface finish. Lastly, attempts to improve the poor initial room temperature tribological behavior of PS400 via the addition of traditional solid lubricants were unsuccessful. Based upon this work and earlier results it is expected that future research will concentrate on developing methods to produce a lubricious glaze on the rubbing surface during break in to ensure that low friction and wear are rapidly achieved.

DellaCorte, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS2016

Pulsed Plasma Lubrication Device and Method

Disclosed herein is a lubrication device comprising a solid lubricant disposed between and in contact with a first electrode and a second electrode dimensioned and arranged such that application of an electric potential between the first electrode and the second electrode sufficient to produce an electric arc between the first electrode and the second electrode to produce a plasma in an ambient atmosphere at an ambient pressure which vaporizes at least a portion of the solid lubricant to produce a vapor stream comprising the solid lubricant. Methods to lubricate a surface utilizing the lubrication device in-situ are also disclosed.

Hofer, Richard R.↗
NASA NTRS1950

Rise of Air Bubbles in Aircraft Lubricating Oils

Lubricating and antifoaming additives in aircraft lubricating oils may impede the escape of small bubbles from the oil by forming shells of liquid with a quasi-solid or gel structure around the bubbles. The rates of rise of small air bubbles, up to 2 millimeters in diameter, were measured at room temperature in an undoped oil, in the same oil containing foam inhibitors, and in an oil containing lubricating additives. The apparent diameter of the air bubbles was measured visually through an ocular micrometer on a traveling telescope. The bubbles in the undoped oil obeyed Stokes' Law, the rate of rise being proportional to the square of the apparent diameter and inversely proportional to the viscosity of the oil. The bubbles in the oils containing lubricating additives or foam inhibitors rose more slowly than the rate predicted by Stokes 1 Law from the apparent diameter, and the rate of rise decreased as the length of path the bubbles traveled increased. A method is derived to calculate the thickness of the liquid shell which would have to move with the bubbles in the doped oils to account for the abnoi'I!l8.lly slow velocity. The maximum thickness of this shell, calculated from the velocities observed, was equal to the bubble radius.

LUBRICATING OILS - FOAMING↗
NASA NTRS1971

The pressure and deformation profile between two colliding lubricated cylinders

The pressure and deformation profiles between two colliding lubricated cylinders are obtained by solving the coupled, time-dependent elastohydrodynamic equations with an iterative procedure. The analysis includes effects which were not considered in a previous solution, namely, the effect of the lubricant compressibility and the effect of a lubricant with composite pressure-viscosity coefficients. It is found that the local approach velocity plays an important role during final stages of normal approach. It causes the lubricant to be entrapped within the contact region; neither the pressure nor the deformation profile converges to the Hertzian profile for a dry contact. The use of a smaller pressure-viscosity coefficient at high pressures reduces the sharp pressure gradient at the center of the contact and produces a much milder variation of load with respect to the film thickness. The effect of compressibility of the lubricant is found to be relatively small.

Lee, K.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Lubricating characteristics of polyimide bonded graphite fluoride and polyimide thin films

A friction and wear life study was conducted on the use of a polyimide (PI) varnish as a binder for the solid lubricant, graphite fluoride (CF(1.1))N. Also studied were the lubricating properties of PI thin films with no solid lubricant additives. For comparison, similar experiments on PI-bonded MoS2 and burnished films of MoS2 or (CF(li))N were conducted. The best results were obtained with the PI-bonded (CF(1.1))N films. The polyimide thin films (with no solid lubricant additives) did not lubricate well at 25 C; however, when heated to 100 C, low friction and long wear lives were obtained.

Fusaro, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Friction losses in a lubricated thrust-loaded cageless angular-contract bearing

The NASA spinning torque apparatus was modified to measure the spinning torque on a cageless ball thrust bearing. Friction torque was measured for thrust loads varying from 44.5 to 403 newtons (10 to 90 lb) at speeds of 1000, 2000, and 3000 rpm. Tests were conducted with di-2-ethylhexyl sebacate and a synthetic paraffinic oil. These tests were run with either oil jet lubrication or with a thin surface film of lubricant only. An analytical model which included rolling resistance was developed and extended from previous models for spinning torque and lubricant rheology. The model was extended by the inclusion of rolling resistance. The computed values were in fair agreement with the experimental results and confirmed previous hypotheses that a thin lubricant film gives minimum bearing torque and an oil jet flow of a viscous lubricant will result in considerable rolling torque in addition to the torque due to ball spin.

Townsend, D. P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Study of ball bearing torque under elastohydrodynamic lubrication

Spinning and rolling torques were measured in an angular-contact ball bearing with and without a cage under several lubrication regimes in a modified NASA spinning torque apparatus. Two lubricants were used, a di-2 ethylhexyl sebacate and a synthetic paraffinic oil, at shaft speeds of 1000, 2000, and 3000 rpm and bearing loads from 10 lbs to 90 lbs. An analytical model was developed from previous spinning friction models to include rolling with spinning under lubrication regimes from thin film to flooded conditions. The bearing torque values have a wide variation, under any condition of speed and load, depending on the amount of lubricant present in the bearing. The analytical model compared favorably with experimental results under several lubrication regimes.

Townsend, D. P.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Lubricating characteristics of polyimide bonded graphite fluoride and polyimide thin films.

A friction and wear life study was conducted on the use of a polyimide (PI) varnish as a binder for the solid lubricant, graphite fluoride (CF sub 1.1) sub n. Also studied were the lubricating properties of PI thin films with no solid lubricant additives. For comparison, similar experiments on PI-bonded MoS2 and burnished films of MoS2 or (CF sub 1.1) sub n were conducted. The best results were obtained with the PI-bonded (CF sub 1.1) sub n films. The polyimide thin films (with no solid lubricant additives) did not lubricate well at 25 C; however, when heated to 100 C, low friction and long wear lives were obtained.

Fusaro, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

KSC lubricant testing program

A program was conducted to evaluate the performance of various lubricants in use and considered for use at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The overall objectives of the program were to: (1) determine the lubrication characteristics and relative corrosion resistance of lubricants in use and proposed for use at KSC; (2) identify materials which may be equivalent to or better than KELF-90 and Krytox 240 AC greases; and (3) identify or develop an improved lubricating oil suitable for use in liquid oxygen (LOX) pumps at KSC. It was concluded that: (1) earth gel thickened greases are very poor corrosion preventive materials in the KSC environment; (2) Halocarbon 25-5S and Braycote 656 were suitable substiutes for KELF-90 and Krytox 240 AC respectively; and (3) none of the oils evaluated possessed the necessary inertness, lubricity, and corrosion prevention characteristics for the KSC LOX pumping systems in their present configuration.

Lockhart, B. J.↗