The study on tribological characteristic of traction drives in non-steady condition (Optimal interferometric observations of transient oil film)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect on oil film thickness and traction coefficient by the sudden change of loaded torque on traction drives. The experimental measurements of oil film thickness and traction force were performed using the optical interferometic observation method. And the comparison of experimental results with calculations of the two dimensional non-steady thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) was performed. We obtained that oil film thickness and traction coefficient decrease though the rotating speed of roller and disc increase, and our discussion lead that the reason of the decrease is the effect of the increase of oil film temperature by shear. The consideration of frictional heating improved the accuracy of calculations about oil film thickness and traction coefficient.