LAUSR

Recent research in dry (unlubricated) contacts reveals that the Archard’s coefficient K cannot accurately characterize wear when operating under transient conditions such as those encountered during running-in or when the system experiences variable loading or variable speed. In contrast, a so-called degradation coefficient B derived based on the entropic characterization of wear provides realistic results. This paper reports an investigation of the efficacy of extending the results to the boundary and mixed lubrication regimes. For this purpose, experiments were performed on a pin-on-disk test setup with different lubricants at a wide range of operating conditions that cover different lubrication regimes. From the obtained results a new formulation is offered for determining B in a lubricated condition that unitizes the Stribeck curve and the concept of load sharing. The proposed method is validated by comparing the predictions with results available in the existing literature. Further, the efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated by considering disks made of different materials having different surface roughness values.