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Results for “ROLLING CONTACT”

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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Experimental investigation on the electrical contact behavior of rolling contact connector

Rolling contact connector (RCC) is a new technology utilized in high performance electric power transfer systems with one or more rotating interfaces, such as radars, satellites, wind generators, and medical computed tomography machines. Rolling contact components are used in the RCC instead of traditional sliding contacts to transfer electrical power and/or signal. Since the requirement of the power transmission is increasing in these years, the rolling electrical contact characteristics become more and more important for the long-life design of RCC. In this paper, a typical form of RCC is presented. A series of experimental work are carried out to investigate the rolling electrical contact characteristics during its lifetime. The influence of a variety of factors on the electrical contact degradation behavior of RCC is analyzed under both vacuum and air environment. Based on the surface morphology and elemental composition changes in the contact zone, which are assessed by field emission scanning electron microscope and confocal laser scanning microscope, the mechanism of rolling electrical contact degradation is discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

New Functionality of Ionic Liquids as Lubricant Additives: Mitigating Rolling Contact Fatigue

Oil-soluble ionic liquids (ILs) have recently been demonstrated as effective lubricant additives of friction reduction and wear protection for sliding contacts. However, their functionality in mitigating rolling contact fatigue (RCF) is little known. Because of the distinct surface damage modes, different types of surface protective additives often are used in lubricants for sliding and rolling contacts. Therefore, the lubricating characteristics and mechanisms of ILs learned in sliding contacts from the earlier work may not be translatable to rolling contacts. This study explores the feasibility of using phosphonium-phosphate, ammonium-phosphate, and phosphonium-carboxylate ILs as candidate additives in rolling–sliding boundary lubrication, and results suggested that an IL could be either beneficial or detrimental on RCF depending on its chemistry. Particularly, the best-performing phosphonium-phosphate IL at 2% addition made a low-viscosity base oil significantly outperform a more viscous commercial gear oil in reducing the RCF surface damage and associated vibration noise. This IL generated a thicker, smoother, and more homogeneous tribofilm compared with commercial additives, which is likely responsible for the superior RCF protection. Results here suggest good potential for using appropriate IL additives to allow the use of low-viscosity gear and axle fluids for improved efficiency and durability.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effects of Water Contamination on Micropitting and Rolling Contact Fatigue of Bearing Steels

Abstract In this research, the effects of water contamination in oil were investigated on two kinds of failures that occur in bearing steel: micropitting and rolling contact fatigue. Whereas the presence of water in the oil had little effect on the generation of surface wear in these experiments, increases in the occurrences of micropitting and rolling contact fatigue were observed due to the presence of either dissolved or free water in lubricants. Additionally, the presence of white etching matter at crack interfaces was observed and evaluated. The experimental results showed that water content can be considered as a significant factor that accelerates the formation of micropitting and fatigue cracks in rolling bearings.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2012

Influence of process parameters on rolling-contact-fatigue life of ion plated nickel-copper-silver lubrication

In this paper, we present a connection between argon ion flux, element-mixing, and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) life of a thin film nickel-copper-silver lubricant on ball bearings. The film is deposited on the balls using an ion plating process and tested for RCF in high vacuum. The ion flux is measured using a Langmuir probe and the plane stress within the film during deposition is calculated using a thin film model. Experiments reveal that there is an inverse relationship between ion flux and RCF life for most deposition voltage and pressure combinations tested, specifically, 15.5-18.5 mTorr and 1.5-3.5 kV. For voltages up to 2.5 kV, RCF life decreases as ion flux increases due to increased compressive stress within the film, reaching as high as 2.6 GPa. For voltages between 2.5 and 3.5 kV, interlayer mixing of nickel and copper with the silver layer reduces RCF life due to contamination, even as ion flux and corresponding film compressive stress are reduced. A Monte Carlo-based simulation tool, SRIM is used to track collision cascades of the argon ions and metal atoms within the coating layers. At process voltages above 2.5 kV we observe elemental mixing of copper and nickel with the silver layer using Auger electron spectroscopy of coated steel and Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} balls. The authors conclude that an ion flux greater than 5.0 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} leads to reduced RCF life due to high film stress. In addition, process voltages greater than 2.5 kV also reduce RCF life due to contamination and interlayer mixing of nickel and copper within the silver layer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Effect of Oil Viscosity and Impact of Ionic Liquid Additive on Electrically Induced Pitting in Rolling Contact

Electrically induced bearing damage (EIBD) is a growing concern in electric drivetrains, where electrical discharge currents generate localized pitting that accelerates wear and premature failure. While ionic liquids (ILs) have shown promise as lubricant additives due to their natural physical adsorption, strong capabilities of tribofilm formation, and high molecular tunability, their role in mitigating EIBD is little known. This gap is especially evident because lubricant viscosity and film thickness affect discharge behavior, and additive performance in these regimes has not been well explored. In this study, tribological tests were performed using a ball-on-disk pure rolling-contact system under an applied voltage on polyalphaolefin oils of three viscosities (4, 10, and 150 cSt measured at 100 °C), with and without the addition of a phosphonium-phosphate IL. Surface damage was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and stylus profilometry. Damage quantification was based on pit morphology analysis of SEM images. The results provide new insights into how oil viscosity governs the discharge behavior and how an IL additive could influence the pit formation. While viscosity seems to play a significant role, an IL additive shows potential to reduce EIBD and deserves further study.

electrically induced bearing damage (EIBD)↗
DOE OSTI2017

Empirical Investigation of Electricity Self-Generation in a Lubricated Sliding–Rolling Contact

The paper reports the empirical observations of voltage generation in a lubricated tribocontact with different oils altering load, sliding and temperature. The investigation is done in the context of research of the root cause of white etching cracks (WEC) failure in bearings. Tested oils of different additive packages found completely different electrical behavior. The oil, which is known to produce WECs in laboratory tests, demonstrated non-zero voltage generation

Electricity↗
DOE OSTI2018

Compliant rolling-contact architected materials for shape reconfigurability

Architected materials can achieve impressive shape-changing capabilities according to how their microarchitecture is engineered. Here we introduce an approach for dramatically advancing such capabilities by utilizing wrapped flexure straps to guide the rolling motions of tightly packed micro-cams that constitute the material’s microarchitecture. This approach enables high shape-morphing versatility and extreme ranges of deformation without accruing appreciable increases in strain energy or internal stress. Two-dimensional and three dimensional macroscale prototypes are demonstrated, and the analytical theory necessary to design the proposed materials is provided and packaged as a software tool. An approach that combines two-photon stereolithography and scanning holographic optical tweezers is demonstrated to enable the fabrication of the proposed materials at their intended microscale.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Wear on Surface Crack Propagation in Rail–Wheel Wet Contact

The interaction between wear and rolling contact fatigue in wet contact was investigated by means of experiments on a two-disk test bench. Specimens of various railway wheel steels were coupled with specimens of the same rail steel, subjected to rolling and sliding wet contact with varying sliding/rolling ratio. Some tests with a dry rolling–sliding contact phase preceding wet contact were carried out as well (dry–wet tests). The pressurization of the fluid entrapped in the surface cracks was the cause of a rapid and severe damage in the dry–wet tests, due to the nucleation of surface cracks by ratcheting in the dry phase, which subsequently propagate in the wet phase. In the wet tests, the fluid pressurization effect was much mitigated due to the absence of initial surface cracks; the specimens subjected to higher sliding/rolling ratio showed the best performance against rolling contact fatigue, due to the effect of wear in reducing the length of surface cracks. A model for assessing the interaction between wear and rolling contact fatigue was proposed, based on the correction of the classical Paris law for crack propagation by taking into account the effect of wear on crack length reduction. The application of the model to the experimental tests allowed finding a correlation between the model predictions and the occurrence of fatigue failure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Superlubricity in rolling/sliding contacts

Rolling element bearings and gears are critical components of mechanical systems such as wind turbines and automotive engines and transmissions that use oil-based lubricants. Oil-based lubricants used in these applications many times needs periodical replacement, which not only add more cost but also affects overall productivity. More importantly, the used oil generates hazardous waste creating huge environmental problem. In this study, we demonstrated that nanomaterials can be employed as solid lubricants in combination with diamond like carbon (DLC) films in dry nitrogen environment under rolling/sliding contacts. Using micro-pitting rig (MPR) that generally used to test and qualify materials and lubricants for bearings and gear systems for industrial applications, we have tested diamond like carbon (DLC) material pairs in an oil-free, dry nitrogen environment along with two dimensional (2D) MoS2 combined with nanodiamond as a solid lubricant. We show that superlubricity (traction coefficient of friction is 0.003) was achieved through the formation of a carbon rich superlubricious tribolayer at the interface reducing the overall friction by a minimum of 20 times and no surface damage as compared to Steel-Steel contacts lubricated with oil (0.06-0.07). The current work paves the way for developing oil-free solid lubricants in a variety of applications involving rolling/sliding contacts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Main Bearing Replacement and Damage - A Field Data Study on 15 Gigawatts of Wind Energy Capacity

This study seeks to establish a comprehensive baseline of knowledge for the replacement and damage of main bearings in wind turbines. The purpose of this report is to provide a high-level summary of the data set, methodology, and results of this work. Full technical details and an extended analysis will be made available in a future publication. We collected data on main bearing replacements and reported damage from industrial partners based in Europe and the United States. In total, we obtained data for 167 wind power plants, with a combined capacity of 15.3 gigawatts (GW). Most of the data set was comprised of land-based, three-point mount, spherical roller bearings. Within this data set were 689 instances of main bearing replacement. Analysis was undertaken in two parts: first, a statistical analysis of the main bearing time-to-replacement data using survival analysis techniques; second, quantitative and qualitative analyses of the obtained damage information. Our results showed that 10% of a fixed main bearing population would be expected to have been replaced by 10.5 years. This is close to half of the 20-year design value. Fitted parametric distributions then indicated that by year 20, between 22% and 25% of main bearings are expected to have been replaced. Analysis of the damage reports revealed spalling to be the main type of damage listed. The additional presence of surface damage in the collected data indicates that at least part of the spalling cases are likely due to surface-initiated rolling contact fatigue. At this stage is not clear what proportion of spalling cases result from "wear induced", surface-initiated and subsurface-initiated rolling contact fatigue. While this work provides important insights into the current state of main bearing replacements and damage, many questions remain. An ongoing and expanding data collection and analysis effort focused on wind turbine main bearings is therefore recommended.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

The effect of contact severity on micropitting: Simulation and experiments

In this work, a numerical contact fatigue model combining the effects of rolling contact fatigue and wear has been developed based on mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) theory, continuum damage mechanics (CDM) and the Archard's wear law. A series of benchtop tests were conducted using a triple-contact test rig to study the influence of surface roughness, speed and load on micropitting. The proposed surface damage model was used to simulate the rolling-sliding line contact of surfaces having different surface topography. The film thickness, contact pressure and sub-surface stress were determined by solving the generalized Reynolds equation and using the well-developed discrete convolute and fast Fourier transformation (DC-FFT) method. The jump-in-cycle was assumed to evaluate the accumulated damage based on the tested fatigue life and sub-surface stress histories. Surface topography was updated by calculating the wear height with the Archard's wear equation. Results reveal that micropitting occurs under the combined effect of wear and contact fatigue. The micropitting rate increased then turn to decreased as the lambda ratio (lambda) increased. The contact pressure significantly affected the contact fatigue life and the micropitting rate.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Particle rotations and energy dissipation during mechanical compression of granular materials

Here, we present new in-situ measurements of particle rotations and energy dissipation during compression of 3D packings of stiff, frictional particles. Two confined, uniaxial compression tests with different degrees of lateral confinement are discussed. X-ray computed tomography and 3D X-ray diffraction were combined to provide inter-particle forces, slip and roll distances, twist angles, and energy dissipation at all inter-particle contacts. Each of these measured quantities followed exponential distributions above their respective mean values and power-law distributions below their mean values in both experiments. Changes in these distributions during experiments suggest that the quantities generally became more homogeneous with increasing overall sample stress. Contact roll and slip distances, twist angles, and energy dissipation were all more heterogeneous than inter-particle normal force magnitudes in both experiments. Energy dissipation due to inter-particle slipping accounted for 95% of the total energy dissipated in both experiments. Dissipation mechanisms at inter-particle contacts bearing more than the mean normal force were responsible for approximately 70% of each sample’s dissipated energy at each load step, even though these contacts constituted approximately 40% of the total number of contacts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Belt structures for rotary electrical contact device

Technologies pertaining to a rotary electrical contact device are described herein. A rotary electrical contact device comprises a first sheave that is disposed about a first axis and a second sheave that rotates about the first axis or a second axis that is parallel to the first axis. The device further includes two planetary sheaves that revolve around the first and second sheaves, and a belt that makes contact with each of the sheaves, the belt having an aspect ratio great than 1:1. As the first sheave rotates, the planetary sheaves revolve about the first and second sheaves and cause the belt to deform and roll along the second sheave. The belt makes rolling contact with the four sheaves. The belt comprises electrically conductive components arranged such that as the belt rolls along the sheaves, the belt maintains electrical contact between the first sheave and the second sheave.

Staats, Jr., Wayne Lawrence↗
DOE OSTI2021

Belt structures for rotary electrical contact device

Technologies pertaining to a rotary electrical contact device are described herein. A rotary electrical contact device comprises a first sheave that is disposed about a first axis and a second sheave that rotates about the first axis or a second axis that is parallel to the first axis. The device further includes two planetary sheaves that revolve around the first and second sheaves, and a belt that makes contact with each of the sheaves, the belt comprising a co-wound inner helical coil and outer helical coil. As the first sheave rotates, the planetary sheaves revolve about the first and second sheaves and cause the belt to deform and roll along the second sheave. The belt makes rolling contact with the four sheaves. The belt is electrically conductive such that as the belt rolls along the sheaves, the belt maintains electrical contact between the first sheave and the second sheave.

Staats, Jr., Wayne Lawrence↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation of main bearing operating conditions in a three-Point mount wind turbine drivetrain

Wear-related failures of spherical roller bearings in the main bearing position of three-point mount wind turbines have been higher than expected and can contribute to higher than anticipated operation-and-maintenance costs. In this paper, the operational conditions of such a main bearing—including measured axial displacement and velocity subject to the estimated axial loads—are described for an instrumented, commercial wind turbine. The field measurements suggest a maximum axial speed between the bearing rings that is less than 2 millimeters per second. It is estimated that the axial speed between the ring and rollers is approximately 25% of this value. When compared to a speed of rolling from approximately 200–352 millimeters per second, the measured axial sliding is therefore significantly less than 1% of the speed of rolling. Previous numerical studies of lubricant film formation in rolling contacts have shown that the effect of axial sliding starts to be noticeable only when this ratio exceeds 10%; therefore, the axial velocity represents only a small disturbance to the nominal pure rolling case, and the influence on oil film building can be neglected. A simple analytic model of the main bearing motion was also developed and demonstrated similar displacement and velocity characteristics.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation of Main Bearing Operating Conditions in a Three-Point Mount Wind Turbine Drivetrain

Wear related failures of spherical roller bearings in the main bearing position of three-point mount wind turbines have been higher than expected and can contribute to higher than anticipated operation-and-maintenance costs. In this paper, the operational conditions of such a main bearing, including measured axial displacement and velocity subject to the estimated axial loads are described for an instrumented, commercial wind turbine. The field measurements suggest a maximum axial speed between the bearing rings that is less than 2 millimeters per second. It is estimated that the axial speed between the ring and rollers is approximately 25% of this value. When compared to a speed of rolling from approximately 200-352 millimeters per second, the measured axial sliding is therefore significantly less than 1% of the speed of rolling. Previous numerical studies of lubricant film formation in rolling contacts have shown that the effect of axial sliding starts to be noticeable only when this ratio exceeds 10%; therefore, the axial velocity represents only a small disturbance to the nominal pure rolling case, and the influence on oil film building can be neglected. A simple analytic model of the main bearing motion was also developed and demonstrated similar displacement and velocity characteristics.

49 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Wind (EE-4W↗