ON THE TRANSITIONS IN THE LUBRICATION OF CONCENTRATED CONTACTS

Friction experiments on lubricated concentrated contracts were perform ed to study; (a) the transitions between the different lubrication mod es when operating in the lubricants liquid-state regime and (b) the fr ictional behavior of these contacts, under conditions of full-film lub rication, taking into account the lubricants liquid-state and solid-st ate behavior. On the basis of these results a flow diagram is presente d for lubricated concentrated contacts, from which the lubrication mod e as well as the frictional behavior can be obtained as a function of the operational conditions, under which these contacts are functioning .