Analyse du fonctionnement autolubrifiant de coussinets en bronze poreux imbibés d’huile

Analysis of the autolubricating action of porous bronze bearings saturated with oil

Service d’Eléments de Machines et Tribologie, Université de Liège, Belgique

Abstract

This paper aims to characterize porous bronze bearings containing oil, working with no additional feeding. Experimental results are presented and compared to a classical hydrodynamic model, which is moreover criticized. We observe that the friction coefficient decreases during the lapping process and when the viscosity of the lubricant goes down. The combining of both effects is obtained by using a coating of white metal and a low viscosity lubricant. We then measure a friction coefficient of about 0.003, ten times smaller than usually observed, for very small values of the Sommerfeld number.