The entrainnient of solid particles into rolling elastohydrodynamic contacts

The entry of lubricant borne solid particles into machine element contacts is important, both for prediction of three body abrasive vear, and for an understanding of the behaviour of solid lubricant additives. This paper describes a quantitative study of particle entrainmcnt into a rolling elastohydrodynamic contact. The level of surface indentation is used as an indication of the number of particles entrained into the contact. It is shown that over the range of test conditions considered; concentrations of particles in the contact can be many times higher than those in the bulk, larger particles are more likely to become entrained, and at higher speed less particles of all sizes become entrained. © 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.