IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE IN THE TESTING, DATA-ANALYSIS AND DATABASING PHASES OF TRIBOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Thrust washer wear tests are routinely performed for material screenin g and production problem resolution. Significant improvement in both t he integrity an efficiency of testing, data analysis and databasing ac tivities resulted from a computerized automation system. This system i s the integration of multiple commercially available personal compute software products: analog to digital conversion/control, spreadsheet, and relational database. The availability of a common macro programmin g language supporting interprocess communication is the primary requir ement. Friction coefficient and wear scar geometry analyses are perfor med using spread sheet macros. On completion of the analysis, the syst em automatically updates the database and archives raw data. Data inte grity is ensured through single entry and paperless operation. Minimal intrusions into the commercial tribometer and profilometer are requir ed, facilitating portability of the system concept. The concept, desig n, operation and efficiency of this system are presented in block diag ram form.