SYSTEMS, STRATEGIES & RESEARCH FOR LUBRICATION PROFESSIONALS AN PUBLICATION | FEBRUARY 2018

TLT
T R I B O LO G Y &
LU B R I C AT I O N
T E C H N O LO G Y
Effective
oil analysis
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Particle Analysis
Determining the
best test

Market Trends
Energy-efficient
lubricants

Green Energy
How sustainable
is it?

Auto Tribology
Variable
compression ratios

Braille Friction
Analyzing touch

Failure
Probability Curves
Debunking a
common belief

Digital TLT: Sponsored this month by Bruker at www.stle.org.

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 Contents
18
FEATURES
MARKET TRENDS
18 The potential of
energy-efficient lubricants
Advances in additive technology
are reducing the world’s carbon
footprint and creating a more
sustainable future.
By David Tsui
FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH
22 Alkyl-Cyclens as Effective
Sulfur- and Phosphorus-Free
Friction Modifiers for
Boundary Lubrication
Tribology research report written
by recipients of STLE’s 2017
scholarship program.
By Michael Desanker, Xingliang
He, Jie Lu, Pinzhi Liu, David B.
Pickens, Massimiliano Delferro,
Tobin J. Marks, Yip-Wah Chung
and Q. Jane Wang
W W W. ST L E .O RG
TLT / FEBRUARY 2018 / VOLUME 74 / NO. 2
32 34
LUBRICATION FUNDAMENTALS 2016 TFC HIGHLIGHTS
32 Green energy: Is it 50 The effect of coating
sustainable? thickness and substrate
Nations that want to live roughness on tool wear
entirely off the sun’s energy during turning
must find a way to make their The 2018 TFC Planning Committee
initiatives affordable. is partnering with TLT to publish
By Dr. Robert M. Gresham abstracts from technical presen-
tations made at the 2016 TFC.
By M. Bar-Hen and I. Etsion
WEBINARS
34 Determining the best
PEER-REVIEWED PAPER (EDITOR’S CHOICE)
particle analysis test
Critical factors include industry 52 Examination of the Axial
standards, equipment costs and Shape of the Automotive
the amount of expertise Valvetrain Cam for Engine
required. Friction Reduction
By Jeanna Van Rensselar By Y. Mabuchi, T. Yamashita,
H. Izumi, K. Nishimura,
S. Hirano and Y. Moriguchi
FEATURE ARTICLE
42 Implementing an
oil analysis program
Vibration analysis, thermography,
ultrasound—the best results
come when you combine
technologies.
By Jeanna Van Rensselar 42
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 1
 Contents

6 10 70
DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS
12 Tech Beat 70 Sounding Board 6 President’s Report
Relationship between wettabil- Describe the difficulties Slipping and sliding away
ity and ice removal; keeping your company encounters in
cool with wearable textiles; attracting bright young talent 8 From the Editor
evaporation as an alternative for technical positions. Failure probability curves
energy source.
By Dr. Neil Canter 74 Advertisers Index 10 Headquarters Report
Sir Winston Churchill:
66 Newsmakers 76 Resources Advisor to STLE
This month’s newsmakers Keep up to date with the latest
technical literature available in 78 Cutting Edge
include Petro-Canada
print and online. Measuring the brain’s response
Lubricants, ASTM International,
to braille friction
Schaeffler and more.
80 Automotive Tribology
Have we finally achieved
variable compression ratio?

This Month’s Factoids:

A Portrait of Louis Braille

Front Cover Image: © Can Stock Photo / aremac

Copyright © 2018 Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. All Rights Reserved. TRIBOLOGY AND LUBRICATION TECHNOLOGY (USPS 865740)
TLT magazine is owned and published in print and electronically by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE). Vol. 74, Number 2, (ISSN-1545-858), is published monthly
The views set forth in this magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of STLE. Material from TLT magazine by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers,
may be reproduced only with written permission from STLE. TLT magazine assumes no liability or responsibility for any 840 Busse Hwy, Park Ridge, IL 60068-2376. Periodicals
inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information. For more information, contact us at TLT@stle.org. Postage is Paid at Park Ridge, IL and at additional mailing
Subscription and Single Copies: Current volume single copies are $25 (not including shipping and handling). Annual subscription offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tribology
rate is $236/U.S., $305/international. Prepayment is required before subscription is started. Remittances from foreign countries and Lubrication Technology, 840 Busse Hwy, Park Ridge,
must be by international money order or bank draft drawn on U.S. bank. IL 60068-2376.

2 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

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 Can humans afford to live TRIBOLOGY & LUBRICATION TECHNOLOGY
off the sun’s energy?
PUBLISHED BY
See Page 32. Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
“Educating lubrication engineers & tribology researchers since 1943”

STLE International Headquarters

840 Busse Highway
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068-2376
Phone: 847-825-5536 • Fax: 847-825-1456
www.stle.org • info@stle.org

EDITOR
Evan Zabawski, CLS TestOil ezabawski@testoil.com

PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Thomas T. Astrene tastrene@stle.org

MANAGING EDITOR
Rachel Fowler rfowler@stle.org

SENIOR FEATURE WRITER

Jeanna Van Rensselar

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Dr. Neil Canter, Dr. Robert M. Gresham, Dr. Nancy McGuire, Debbie Sniderman

CIRCULATION COORDINATORS
Myrna Scott, Nadine Sanchez (847) 825-5536

ADVERTISING SALES
Tracy Nicholas VanEe Phone: (630) 922-3459 Fax: (630) 904-4563 tnicholas@stle.org

DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Joe Ruck

TECHNICAL EDITORS
Dr. William Anderson Afton Chemical Corp. bill.anderson@aftonchemical.com
Dr. John Bomidi Baker Hughes, a GE company john.bomidi@bakerhughes.com
Michelle Brakke Lubrication Technologies Inc. michellebra@lubetech.com
Patrick Brutto Independent patrick.e.brutto@gmail.com
Dr. Jose Castillo Aleris Corp. Jose.Castillo@aleris.com
Dr. Geetha Chimata Imatrex Inc. g.chimata@imatrex.com
Bridget Dubbert Engineered Lubricants Co. bdubbert@englube.com
Dr. Alan Eachus Self-employed drace.dbd@comcast.net
Dr. Philip Egberts University of Calgary philip.egberts@ucalgary.ca
Dr. Monica A. Ford Ingevity monica.ford@ingevity.com
Dr. Hamed Ghaednia Ford Motor Co. hghaedni@ford.com
Dr. Arnab Ghosh Sentient Science aghosh@sentientscience.com
Dr. Martin Greaves The Dow Chemical Co. mrgreaves@dow.com
Dr. Ken Hope Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP hopekd@cpchem.com
Dr. Mohammad Motaher Hossain Texas A&M University-Kingsville mohammad.hossain@tamuk.edu
Tyler Housel Zschimmer & Schwarz, Inc. thousel@lexolube.com
Dr. Harman Khare University of Pennsylvania hkhare@seas.upenn.edu
Dr. Anoop Kumar Royal Mfg Co. LP anoopk@royalmfg.com
David Lindsay Afton Chemical Corp. david.lindsay@aftonchemical.com
Jory Maccan Imperial Oil maccan.jory@gmail.com
Brad McCann Nelson Oil Co. bmccann@nelsonlubricants.com
Shawn McCarthy Ocean State Oil shawn.mccarthy@oceanstateoil.com
Les Miller SKF/Kaydon Bearings lmiller@kaydon.com
Dr. Hamidreza Mohseni Bosch Brake Components hamidreza.mohseni@us.bosch.com
Rob Morien Rexnord robert.morien@rexnord.com
Jason Papacek Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. jason.papacek@calumetspecialty.com
Dr. Steven Patton University of Dayton Research Institute Steve.Patton@udri.udayton.edu
Brian Pettinato Elliott Group bpettina@elliott-turbo.com
Dr. Donald T. Robertson BG Products, Inc.
Doug Sackett Total Lubricants USA doug.sackett@total.com
Dr. Richard F. Salant Georgia Institute of Technology richard.salant@me.gatech.edu
Dr. Eugene Scanlon BASF eugene.scanlon@basf.com
Dr. Raj Shah Koehler Instrument Co. rshah@koehlerinstrument.com
© Can Stock Photo / Kateryna_Kon

Dr. Shuangwen Sheng National Renewable Energy Laboratory shuangwen.sheng@nrel.gov

Dr. Don Smolenski Strategic Management of Oil, LLC donald.smolenski@gmail.com
Edward Sunghing Chem-Ecol, Ontario, Canada esunghing@chem-ecol.com
Dr. Simon C. Tung Tung Innovation Technology Consulting Inc. simontung168@gmail.com
Dr. Rohit Voothaluru The Timken Co. rohit.voothaluru@timken.com
Dr. Dehua Yang Ebatco dyang@ebatco.com
Dr. Guosong Zeng Lehigh University guz210@lehigh.edu

4 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Michael Anderson
Slipping and sliding away
Winter brings a new and sometimes painful focus on tribology.
IT’S THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY, and the
winter doldrums are kicking in. Living in the up-
per Midwest of the U.S., I have begun to appreci-
ate why so many people go south during this
time of year. This winter has been particularly
cold, in fact, you might say bone-chilling. The
sidewalks are covered in a mixture of snowpack
and ice. Having recently slipped on this rather
nasty ground-cover combination, I thought this
month’s article should be on friction.
Tribologically, ASTM D4175 standard de-
fines friction and friction force as follows:
friction, n—the resistance to sliding ex-
hibited by two surfaces in contact with each
other. Basically there are two frictional prop-
erties exhibited by any surface; static friction
and kinetic friction.
We hear the word friction used in other
contexts as well. These non-tribological uses
of the word friction are defined in everyday
dictionaries. They really don’t apply here, ex-
6 Louis Braille, inventor of the braille reading system for the blind, was born on Jan. 4, 1809, in a small French town named Coupvray.
cept to say that they are generally used to
depict a negative aspect to the action in
which they are used. For example, “his atti-
tude caused friction between him and his
friend.” We tend to think of friction in a nega-
tive context. Even tribologically, most people
think that friction is a bad word. But it really
isn’t. It is just a word used to describe the
resistance to motion in a system. But is it al-
ways used correctly?
Oftentimes I read something like, “low-
friction fluid.” What exactly does this mean?
This brings me to the point I really want to
make. Friction is a product of a system and
must be described within the context of a sys-
tem. The system includes the materials that are
in contact, the condition of the surfaces of
these materials, pressure (load), velocity, tem-
perature and other environmental conditions.
Changing any one of these conditions can
change the friction that takes place in the sys-
tem. Most people that have met me know that
Richard Stribeck is my idol. He has great
curves! The Stribeck curve completely defines,
in an abstract but direct way, the effect that
changes in load, viscosity and speed have on
friction. Where you are on the curve defines in
which lubrication regime the system is under:
hydrodynamic, boundary or mixed.
I am often asked how to develop a Stribeck
curve for a fluid. The answer can be simple, or
it can be very complex. Again, like low-friction
fluids, there can only be one Stribeck curve for
one set of conditions. Running a tribology test
that involves motion will give you a friction
value. This value is a point on the correspond-
ing Stribeck curve for the conditions under
which you are testing. Changing the load or
speed can cause the friction to change, moving
the value along the curve. Change the lubricant
and you develop a friction value on a separate
Stribeck curve corresponding to the second
lubricant or the same lubricant at different
temperature. The only variables that can be
changed by the operator is velocity and load.
One can never develop a full Stribeck

Figure 1 | A full Stribeck curve cannot be developed because the combinations of load, velocity
and viscosity are practically infinite.
curve (see Figure 1) because the combinations
of load, velocity and viscosity are, in practical-
ity, infinite. But it is safe to say that every
tribology test is either a point or a part of a
Stribeck curve. Note that this is one of Mike’s
W W W. ST L E .O RG
that exhibit lower friction in the application. So
we accept these statements because, as users,
we know and understand their potential ben-
efits when used in the intended application.
Machinery, brakes, clutches, flooring, tires,
shoe soles and so forth all benefit in some way
from higher or lower levels of friction. Under-
standing the application can help us to design
products with the “right” level of friction.
One more thing about friction. When I fell
on the ice, the sole of my shoe in contact with
the ice resulted in a very low-friction condition.
Higher friction in this case would have been
very welcomed. I am now wearing boots with
rough rubber soles, and the contact with ice
isn’t as slippery. Tribologically, I have increased
the friction between the surfaces of two mate-
rials: ice and shoe sole. This is another confir-
mation that tribology is everywhere!
Rules of Tribology Testing. Mike Anderson is Area Manager
But let’s go back to the term low-friction Asia Pacific/Latin America for
fluid for just a minute. While this term on its Falex Corp. in Sugar Grove, Ill.
own is meaningless, knowing its intended use You can reach him at
informs the user that it will have properties manderson@falex.com.
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 7
FROM THE EDITOR
Evan Zabawski

Failure probability curves

A common belief is not entirely true.
THE UBIQUITOUS BATHTUB CURVE—hardly
any presentation on failure modes excludes
discussing it. Though it is frequently dis-
cussed, its unlikely occurrence is only oc-
casionally quantified, and it is almost never
revealed to be an aggregate of three other
probability curves.
When United Airline engineers Stan Now-
lan and Howard Heap published Reliability-
Centered Maintenance in 1978, they identified
six basic patterns for conditional probability of
failure. They are the bathtub curve, wearout, fa-
tigue, initial break-in period, random and infant
mortality. The first three curves were grouped
together as age-related, and the latter three
grouped together as non-age-related.
Nowlan and Heap supplied percentages The bathtub curve is commonly believed to apply to most components.
of items that fell into each of the patterns
based on data collected in 1968. Similar data
on aircraft failures had been collected by followed by a sharply decreasing curve, and cally different values for wearout (increased
Blomberg in Sweden in 1973, utilizing the same random depicts as a flat line without slope. to 17%), random (increased to 42%) and infant
patterns, with remarkably similar percentages For the failures of an item to be classified mortality (decreased to 29%), though still ar-
(four categories agreeing to within 1%, the as following the bathtub curve, it would have riving at a similar aggregate value (88%).
remaining at 2% and 4% variance). to show both a high probability of failure when Though the data was different, it proved the
Though both data sets emphasized that new (infant mortality) and when old (wearout), vast majority of the failures still fell somewhere
89%-92% of the failures were from non-age- with a significantly lower rate of failure in the on the bathtub curve, which were continually
related patterns, the bathtub curve is com- interim. The fallacy of the bathtub curve seems and incorrectly thought to follow this pattern.
monly believed to apply to most components. to derive from the fact that so many failures In an age of ever-increasing caution, it
The truth becomes more apparent when the follow the infant mortality curve, which is in- becomes difficult for end-users to justify the
bathtub curve is dissected. discernible from a bathtub curve until or unless cost and/or risk in performing an age explora-
In reality, the bathtub curve is not really a the item is allowed to run to failure to collect tion to seek to extend intervals beyond OEM
unique pattern but rather an aggregate of the the additional age-related data. recommendations. Only the most ardent reli-
infant mortality, random and wearout curves. One mitigating factor is the strong desire ability professionals seem to be able to pur-
While wearout only accounts for 1%-2% of the to avoid failure, which drives the oft mis- sue these programs, but hopefully others are
failure, and random assigned to a further 14%- aligned premise that preventive maintenance inspired by this presentation of data, going
15%, the vast majority (66%-68%) is attributed is the correct method to accomplish this goal. back 50 years, that shows overcoming infant
to infant mortality. The aggregate scoring would There have been several studies, including mortality is of far greater concern than the
then suggest 82%-84% of the failures should the work of Nowlan and Heap, showing that anticipated wearing out of a part.
fall under the bathtub curve, but that is not increased preventive maintenance actually
exactly how failures are classified into patterns. leads to increased number of failures, many
Essentially the wearout curve depicts of which fall into the self-perpetuating infant Evan Zabawski, CLS, is the
items that display a constant of gradually mortality pattern. senior technical advisor for
increasing probability of failure followed by The U.S. Navy, when it performed its study TestOil in Calgary, Alberta,
a pronounced wearout region, whereas infant in 1982, arrived at the same 3% of failures at- Canada. You can reach him at
mortality depicts a high probability region tributable to the bathtub curve but saw radi- ezabawski@testoil.com.

8 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

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Tribology & Mechanical Testers

Innovation with Integrity
HEADQUARTERS REPORT
Edward P. Salek, CAE / Executive Director
Sir Winston Churchill: Advisor to STLE
Words from a giant of the last century can guide us
through the challenges of 2018.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, the British states-
man and writer who died more than 50 years
ago, has been back in the public spotlight
thanks to portrayals in a popular television
series (The Crown) and a hit movie (Darkest
Hour).
Watching the latter reminded me that
Churchill had the ability to “weaponize
words,” most notably in 1940 when he was
called to serve as prime minister. Great Britain
appeared to have no choice but to surrender
to Nazi Germany. Instead, Churchill found the
right tone to rally the collective spirit, and
England chose to fight despite a dire situa-
tion. The rest, as they say, is history.
Churchill’s body of rhetoric was more than
inspirational. It’s also timeless. Many of the
things he wrote and said still offer wit, wisdom
and guidance to those in the 21st Century. They
even can fit the context of STLE’s mission of
supporting people who want to connect, learn
and achieve in the tribology and lubricants
business. Let me share five Churchill quotes
and humbly offer up an explanation of how
each holds meaning for those of us facing
work and life challenges in 2018.
“We make a living by what we get, but we
make a life by what we give.” STLE, like many
other organizations, benefits from contribu-
tions by hundreds of volunteers. They support
content-based activities—such as the Annual
Meeting—and leadership tasks like the board
of directors. Giving back to the profession
through volunteerism provides personal sat-
isfaction as well as professional rewards and
recognition. It turns a job into a career. We
appreciate all of our volunteers and encour-
age others to experience the power of making
a life by what you give.
“I never worry about action, but only in-
action.” Stated in contemporary terms, this
means encouraging people to take risks with
projects by giving them “permission to fail.”
10 • FEBRUARY 2018
“If you have an important point to make,
don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile
driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and
hit it again. Then hit it a third time—a tremen-
dous whack.” Churchill clearly knew how to
make his point with a tremendous whack.
Anyone giving a presentation or writing an
article will do well to take a similar approach.
Have a point to make and then drive it home
without hesitation. This is the standard of
excellence STLE seeks to provide our mem-
bers in publications like TLT or in technical
presentations and education courses.
“Employ your time in improving yourself
© Can Stock Photo / Hagen411
by other men’s writings so that you shall
come easily by what others have labored hard
for.” Above all else, STLE is the place where
men and women share what they have discov-
ered or learned in their daily work. One of our
newest membership services are the Learning
‘We make a living by what we get, but we Pathways that are available on www.stle.org.
make a life by what we give.’ The Learning Pathways make it possible to
—Winston Churchill “come easily by” the vast body of knowledge
that STLE has curated from more than 70
Organizations where playing it safe is the years of labor by tribology and lubricant pro-
dominant operating philosophy usually find fessionals. Take Sir Winston’s advice and “em-
themselves losing ground to the competition. ploy your time” with this new resource.
STLE has taken Churchill’s advice to heart and Churchill also was skilled at balancing
adopted a mindset that seeks opportunities profound and inspiring thoughts with a dry
within the framework of a bold strategic plan. sense of humor. There is perhaps no better
Expect to see action around many new initia- example than his comment when presented
tives in 2018. with an official government report. He said,
“Personally I’m always ready to learn, “This report, by its very length, defends itself
although I do not always like being taught.” against the risk of being read.”
Part of that strategic plan is a commitment to Here’s hoping this month’s column over-
provide the tribology and lubricants commu- came that risk!
nity with an expanding selection of continuing
professional development opportunities.
STLE’s goal is to be the primary lifelong learn-
ing resource for a community of people and
organizations who recognize that being “al- You can reach Certified
ways ready to learn” is a distinct competitive Association Executive Ed Salek at
advantage. esalek@stle.org.
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG
TECH BEAT
Dr. Neil Canter / Contributing Editor

Relationship between wettability

and ice removal
A new study determined that ice growth is dependent on
the hydrophobicity of a surface.

AS THIS COLUMN IS READ, those of us in by causing problems such as corrosion.

the Northern Hemisphere are dealing Repelling water is a popular approach
with a common winter task—removing to facilitating water removal from a lu- Surface roughness also can
ice from windshields. This task can be bricant system.
difficult and time consuming. In a previous TLT article, research-
influence ice growth.
To develop an approach for easier ers defined a superhydrophobic surface
ice removal, further information is as containing microscopic ridges and
needed about the structure of ice when posts in combination with a hydropho-
it forms on a surface. Clues about how bic coating such as polytetrafluoroeth- The surface used in this study was
to deal with this issue can originate ylene.1 These characteristics enable the prepared by depositing a thin alumi-
from research done to repel ice’s liquid contact angle of water droplets imping- num film on a silicon wafer. Hydro-
state, water, from surfaces. This leads ing on a superhydrophobic surface to phobicity was introduced through
to an examination of the concept of be greater than 120 degrees. chemical vapor deposition of perfluo-
superhydrophobicity. About 20 years ago, modeling stud- rodecyltrimethoxysilane. The wettabil-
Superhydrophobic surfaces are de- ies by Xiao Cheng Zeng, Chancellor’s ity of the surface was varied by adjust-
signed to reject or repel water. This University & Willa Cather Professor ing the treatment time. On average, the
makes them attractive in lubricant of chemistry at the University of Ne- thickness of this film is approximately
systems because water contamination braska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Neb., deter- 50 nanometers.
can create premature lubricant failure mined the structure of ice on a surface. Ice was added to this surface, and
Zeng says, “We found that ice forms a the samples were added to a cryostage
two-dimensional bilayer on a surface kept at -15 C with humidity adjusted
that is similar in structure to graphene. by adding wet air to the cryostage.
KEY CO
CONCEPTS
C S The structure is 0.8 billionth of a meter Zeng says, “We found that ice growth
thick and cannot be seen, but it can be on a surface will differ depending upon
• Ice growth on a surface
suu facee is
is a measured by spectroscopic techniques. the hydrophobicity of a surface. When
function of hydrophobicity The structure of the two-dimensional the contact angle for ice is below 40
with along-surface growth
grow h ice was designated as Nebraska Ice and degrees, then ice formation will creep
occurring at a contact angle was verified experimentally in 2009.” along the surface in a manner known
A new modeling study and experi- as the along-surface growth mode. As
below 40 degrees.
degree
mentation has provided further insight part of this process, Nebraska Ice is
• When the contact angle is is into how ice growth is a function of formed.”
the hydrophobicity of a surface. Zeng feels that an appropriate term
above
b e 40 degrees,
d , ice
icee grows
grows inn
for ice growing in this manner on the
an off-surface growth
an g th mode. d . TWO ICE GROWTH MODES surface is iceophilic.
Zeng and colleagues from several Chi- In the presence of a more hydro-
• Surface roughness lowers the
t e
na institutions have determined the phobic surface with a contact angle
contact
t t angle
angl
g e when
hen ice
i e growth
g thh way ice grows on a surface as a func- greater than 40 degrees, ice grows
switches from
from the along-sur- tion of the hydrophobicity of the sur- in a different manner away from the
face to the off-surface
o su acce mode. face. The work was done both through surface. Zeng says, “We found that
modeling and experimentation. ice forms in an off-surface growth

12 When he was three, Braille accidentally poked himself in the eye with an awl from his father’s leather
 Surface roughness also can influ-
ence ice growth. Zeng says, “We de-
termined that the contact angle where
ice growth switches from the along-
surface to off-surface growth modes
drops to a smaller angle. This shift
may be due to the ice not really being
in contact with the rough surface as
readily as a smooth surface. The hydro-
philicity of the surface must be more
pronounced to enable the ice to act in
the along-surface growth mode.”
The difference in the two ice
growth modes is shown in Figure 1.
Off-surface growth improved the abil-
ity for ice to be removed as shown on
the right, while along-surface growth
made it difficult for ice to be removed
as depicted on the left. Experiments
subjecting both surfaces just to wind
blowing at 5.78 meters per second led
to rapid ice removal for the hydropho-
bic surface but no ice removal for the
hydrophilic surface.
This work should provide guid-
ance for the development of better ice-
repellent surfaces that might make it
easier to remove ice from automobiles
and also to de-ice airplanes. Zeng says,
“We have seen that two-dimensional
ice has different types of crystal struc-
tures that can range from hexagonal
to square surfaces. In the future, we
are looking to better understand how
these surfaces are formed.”
Additional information on this re-
search can be found in a recent article2
or by contacting Zeng at xzeng1@unl.
edu.

REFERENCES
1. Canter, N. (2014), “Gaining a
Figure 1 | Ice forming along the surface is shown on the top, while ice growing off the surface
better understanding of superhy-
is below. Off-surface growth can ease ice removal from a surface. (Figure courtesy of the Uni-
drophobic surfaces,” TLT, 70 (8),
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.)
pp. 10-11.
2. Liu, J., Zhu, C., Liu, K., Jiang, Y.,
Song, Y., Francisco, J., Zeng, X.
mode, which we term as iceophobic. ice grows on a surface that is 50%
and Wang, J. (2017), “Distinct ice
Ice grows toward the sky in a manner hydrophilic and 50% hydrophobic.
patterns on solid surfaces with
similar to a snow flake and often form- As ice growth progressed from the hy- various wettabilities,” Proceedings
ing shapes that exhibit beautiful six- drophilic to the hydrophobic side of of the National Academy of
fold symmetry.” the surface, the initial along-surface Sciences, 114 (43), pp. 11285-
A particular significant experi- growth mode changed to off-surface 11290.
ment was done to demonstrate how growth mode.

workshop. The infection spread to both eyes, and within weeks Braille was completely blind. 13
TECH BEAT
Keeping cool with wearable textiles
Researchers have developed a composite textile that can be woven
into fabrics.
TECHNOLOGY IS ADVANCING TO ENABLE
INDIVIDUALS to better use their bodies
as power sources. In a previous TLT
article, researchers developed a wear-
able device that takes advantage of the
temperature difference between two
objects to generate power.1 This pro-
cess is known as thermoelectric gen-
eration (TEG) and, in this case, takes
advantage of the difference between the
temperature of the human body and
the ambient environment.
The maximum amount of power
generated was 20 microwatts per
square meter when the TEG device is
placed on the upper arm and the indi-
vidual using it is walking at a rate of 1.1
meters per second.
One problem that individuals deal
with in hot climates or during the sum-
mer is dissipating this body heat. We
rely on air conditioning to control tem-
perature, but the cost and the increased
emissions make it worthwhile to see
what can be done for the individual.
The result has been the develop-
ment of personal cooling technolo-
KEY CONCEPTS
• Personal cooling
coolingg technologies
are now commercially available
but do not exhibit adequate
thermal conductivity.
• A new composite fiber based
based
on boron nitride and polyvinyl
alcohol exhibits good thermal
conductivity
d t ty when woven into
a fabric.
• Composite fibers are efficiently
prepared using 3D printing.
14 • FEBRUARY 2018
‘Personal cooling technologies provide thermal comfort to the individual
by directing local heat to the thermal-regulated environment.’
gies. Liangbing Hu, associate professor
in the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering & Energy Research
Center at the University of Maryland
in College Park, Md., says, “Personal
cooling technologies provide thermal
comfort to the individual by directing
local heat to the thermal-regulated en-
vironment.”
For the textile industry, personal
cooling technologies offer an approach
for simultaneously providing thermal
comfort and reducing energy con-
sumption for the individual. Hu says,
“This function can enable textiles or
garments to have a new function and
develop enhanced value.”
Personal cooling technologies are
commercially available and include
moisture management textiles, air-
cooled textiles, cold pack textile phase
change materials and liquid cooling
textiles. But these technologies have
limitations.
Hu says, “Moisture management
textiles are the most common thermal-
management textiles on the market, but
its thermal-management mechanism
can only be triggered when the micro-
climate between human skin and fabric
is at a high humidity level. The other
technologies have limitations such as
inconvenience due to the bulky size of
the cold pack, massive consumption of
power and high cost. These technolo-
gies are mainly utilized to reduce the
risk of heat-related injuries to the hu-
man body and not suitable for general
applications.”
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
A key challenge that needs to be
overcome is to find a material that ex-
hibits improved thermal conductivity.
Such a material in the form of a com-
posite fiber has now been prepared.
BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS
Hu and his colleagues developed a new
type of textile fiber based on a com-
posite of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets
and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) that can
be woven into a fabric. He says, “BN
has traditionally been considered as
an effective material in thermal man-
agement applications due to its high
thermal conductivity, yet this material
also is an electrical insulator. The BN
nanosheets exhibit high in-plane ther-
mal conductivity and are ideal filler
materials for fabrication of a thermal
conductive composite.”
The processing of the BN/PVA com-
posite fiber is shown in Figure 2. Ini-
tially, BN and PVA were dispersed in di-
methyl sulfoxide prior to 3D printing.
Hu says, “PVA has a great interfacial
compatibility with BN nanosheets that
helps with dispersion in solution.”
The next step was preparing the
fibers through 3D printing. Hu says,
“3D printing, as an efficient additive
manufacturing technique, can fast and
accurately fabricate an arbitrary and
complicated structure. This technique
is not only scalable but efficiently fabri-
cates the BN/PVA composite fibers and
also can promote the development of
new 3D printed textile structures.”
The composite fibers are then drawn
W W W. ST L E .O RG
 at a temperature of 200 C. Hu says,
“This process leads to a composite fi-
ber that displays a combination of high
mechanical strength (355 megapscals)
and favorable heat dispersion. Due to
the improved thermal transport prop-
erty imparted by the thermally conduc-
tive and highly aligned BN nanosheets,
a better cooling effect (55% improve-
ment over commercial cotton fiber) can
be achieved.”
In evaluating the performance of
the BN/PVA composite fiber, the re-
searchers used a laser-infrared camera
and laser input power to determine
the temperature distribution of the fi-
ber bundles and fabrics and to evalu-
ate thermal conductivity. Hu says, “BN/
PVA was evaluated versus pure PVA
and cotton fabrics. We found that the
BN/PVA composite fabric displayed the
lowest maximum temperature at laser
power inputs of 0.047, 0.079 and 0.096
Watts. The BN/PVA composite fabric
also demonstrated the highest thermal
conductivity of the three fibers tested.”
For the future, the researchers will
further examine the thermal conductiv-
ity of BN/PVA. Hu says, “We plan to use
a heated mannequin that is similar to
an actual human body to further study
the thermal properties of the compos-
ite fabric. Newer textile structures will
be designed and prepared based on 3D
printing technology. We also plan to
evaluate other fiber candidates with
promising physical properties for ther-
mal management applications.”
Additional information on this
work can be found in a recent article2
or by contacting Hu at binghu@umd.edu.

REFERENCES
1. Canter, N. (2016), “Thermoelec-
tric generation using body heat,”
TLT, 72 (12), pp. 10-11.
2. Gao, T., Yang Z., Chen, C., Li, Y.,
Fu, K., Dai, J., Hitz, E., Xie, H.,
Liu, B., Song, J., Yang, B. and Hu,
L. (2017), “Three-Dimensional
Printed Thermal Regulation
Figure 2 | A new type of textile fiber based on a composite of boron nitride (BN) and polyvinyl Textiles,” ACS Nano, 11 (11), pp.
alcohol (PVA) that shows superior thermal conductivity is processed in the manner shown. 11513-11520.
(Figure courtesy of the University of Maryland.)

W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 15

TECH BEAT
Evaporation as an alternative energy source
A new model evaluates the potential for generating power by placing
evaporation engines in natural fresh water sources.
IN THE SEARCH FOR DEVELOPING ALTER-
NATIVE ENERGY SOURCES to petroleum,
this column continues to monitor de-
velopments in wind energy and solar
power. Research to determine if water
can be harnessed in some fashion as an
energy source also has been underway.
One motivation is that water occupies
71% of the Earth’s surface, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey.1
Almost all of the water (96.5%)
is contained in Earth’s oceans, which
contain varying degrees of salinity. Re-
searchers have been working to use dif-
ferences in salinity as a means to gen-
erate power. In a previous TLT article,
the salinity difference between fresh
water and seawater was used to pro-
duce power using a concentration flow
KEY CONCEPTS
• Evaporation represents a
diffe e t approachh for using
diff
different
water as an energy source.
• A model developed found that
325 gigawatts of power can be
generated through using
evaporation on all fresh water
surfaces in the U.S. greater
th n 0.1 square kilometer,
than
except for the Great Lakes.
• The model determined that
t at
more energy can be realized
r alized
from evaporation in drier,
sunnier, warmer climates
climat s than
t an
th
cooler, wetter
wette climates.
16
cell where water with a high salinity
content flows past one electrode, and
water with a low salinity content flows
past a second electrode.2 The average
power density achieved was twice what
was reported previously.
A different approach for using wa-
ter as an energy source is evaporation.
Dr. Ahmet-Harndi Cavusoglu, associate
director, Academic Venture Exchange
and formerly a graduate student in the
department of chemical engineering at
Columbia University in New York City,
indicates that evaporation is a key part
of the water cycle. He says, “The wa-
ter cycle describes how water moves
through the Earth’s atmosphere. Initially,
water condenses and is released onto the
Earth as rain (or snow). The water then
moves into rivers which then empty into
lakes and oceans. This process also oc-
curs on land as water is absorbed into
soil. In the final step, water evaporates
back into the air completing the cycle.”
The possibility exists that evapora-
tion of water may be used as a way to
produce energy. Cavusoglu says, “The
rate of evaporation’s energy transfer or
flux was determined to be 80 watts per
square meter on average globally. This
is a measure of how energy flows up
into the atmosphere and then down
onto the Earth’s surface.”
The significant amount of potential
power available from evaporation has
been examined by Ozgur Sahin, associ-
ate professor of biological sciences and
physics at Columbia University. Sahin
and his research group have developed
an evaporation engine to generate en-
ergy in the laboratory.3
Cavusoglu describes how the evap-
oration engine works, “An evapora-
Braille continued at school and learned what he could through oral instruction. When
tion engine would be placed above a
body of evaporating water and acts in
a similar manner to a greenhouse over
a body of water such as a lake. This
device would contain a hygroscopic
material that grows and shrinks when
in contact with moisture, sandwiched
between shutters on top of the engine
facing the atmosphere and shutters be-
Reducing evaporation
will lead to an additional
96.4 billion cubic meters of
water recovered per year.
low in contact with the water surface.
In the first step, the upper shutters are
closed while the bottom shutters open,
enabling water at its highest chemical
potential to be absorbed into the en-
gine causing the transparent material
to swell. Then the upper shutters open
and the lower shutters close, which al-
lows the hygroscopic material to shrink
releasing water at a lower chemical po-
tential, thus, generating energy from
the difference in chemical potential.”
The cycle then repeats itself.
With this background, Cavusoglu
and his colleagues then developed a
model to evaluate the potential for
generating power in the U.S. by plac-
ing evaporation engines in natural fresh
water sources.
DRIER CLIMATES FAVORABLE
Cavusoglu, Sahin and their co-work-
ers developed a model to demonstrate
 Figure 3 | A reservoir located near Phoenix, Az., is in a dry, sunny, warm climate that appears to be advantageous for generating power
through the use of evaporation. (Figure courtesy of Columbia University.)
the potential for using evaporation to
generate energy in the contiguous U.S.
Cavusoglu says, “We evaluated the en-
ergy flux that can be generated on all
fresh water surfaces that are greater in
area than 0.1 square kilometer, except
for the Great Lakes. The assumption is
made that each of these water surfaces
is completely covered with an evapora-
tion engine.”
The researchers calculated that
325 gigawatts (2.85 billion megawatt
hours per year) of power can be gen-
erated from evaporation. A secondary
benefit is that the reduction in evapo-
ration will lead to the recovery of an
additional 96.4 billion cubic meters of
water per year, which is extremely im-
portant, particularly in drier climates.
The potential power obtained through
evaporation is greater than electrical
power generation in 15 of the 47 U.S.
states evaluated.
The weather in a specific location
played a significant role in the amount
of power the model predicted can be
produced through evaporation. Cavu-
soglu says, “We found that more evapo-
ration energy can be generated from
water sources in drier, sunnier, warmer
climates than those in cooler and wetter
climates. One other factor is that chang-
he was 10, he received a scholarship at the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris.
es in the seasons also will impact power
generated as more will be produced in
the summer than in the winter.”
This means that locations such as
Phoenix, Az., which is serviced by the
reservoir shown in Figure 3, could ben-
efit greatly from evaporation. Cavuso-
glu points out that locations such as
Minnesota also will benefit for a dif-
ferent reason. He says, “Minnesota has
a cooler climate that inhibits evapora-
tion energy but compensates for this
negative characteristic due to the large
number of lakes present. Our model
calculated that a large amount of evap-
oration energy can be generated even
though the efficiency as measured by
watts per square meter is low.”
While producing power from evap-
oration can be done as needed and is
not directly reliant on the sun or the
wind in the case of wind energy and so-
lar power, Cavusoglu envisions evapo-
ration to be a supplemental renewable
energy source. He says, “We feel that
evaporation energy is an extra tool in
the tool box and complementary with
other energy sources.”
Future work for Sahin’s group will
involve scaling up the evaporation en-
gine. Additional information on this
model can be found in a recent article4
or by contacting Sahin at sahin@colum-
bia.edu.
REFERENCES
1. Please go to the following link:
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/
earthhowmuch.html.
2. Canter, N. (2016), “New
approach to generate power from
salinity differences in water,” TLT,
72 (12), pp. 12-13.
3. Chen, X., Goodnight, D., Gao, Z.,
Cavusoglu A., Sabharwal, N.,
DeLay, M., Driks A. and Sahin, O.
(2015), “Scaling up nanoscale
water-driven energy conversion
into evaporation-driven engines
and generators,” Nature Communi-
cations, 6, Article Number: 7346.
4. Cavusoglu, A., Chen, X., Gentine,
P. and Sahin, O. (2017), “Poten-
tial for natural evaporation as a
reliable renewable energy
resource,” Nature Communica-
tions, 8, Article Number: 617.
Neil Canter heads his own
consulting company, Chemical
Solutions, in Willow Grove, Pa.
Ideas for Tech Beat can be
submitted to him at
neilcanter@comcast.net.
17
MARKET TRENDS
David Tsui

© Can Stock Photo / mtoome

W ith lubricant market growth flattening, lube marketers

need to identify new markets to promote lubricant usage. The
energy-efficient lubricant is a viable segment that can be promot-
ed to help reduce our carbon footprint and conserve resources.
The contribution from lubricants in improving energy ef-
ficiency, reducing our carbon footprint and controlling green-
house gas (GHG) is often overlooked. Lubricants and lubricant
additives can help reduce our CO2 footprint and control GHG
emissions as we strive toward a more renewable future. Au-
tomotive engine oil and fuel economy usually comes to mind
first, as this has been the focus of many government regula-
tions from CAFE to Euro 6 to National VI. Yet the transporta-
tion sector only makes up a part of global energy consumption.
The industrial sector consumes around a quarter of the overall
lubricant demand, leaving a large sector that can adopt more
energy-efficient lubricants (see Figure 1).
Automotive engine oils typically can generate a few per-

18 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

 The potential of
energy-efficient
lubricants
Advances in additive technology are
reducing the world’s carbon footprint
and creating a more sustainable future.

Engine Oil, 43% Other Automotive, 7%

Industrial, 25%

cent fuel economy sav- as lubricants have been

ings by switching to
the next lower viscosity
grade, and many experts
tend to believe a lubricant
can only improve efficiencyy
by a percent or two. Lubricants
cants
and the additives that go into
o them can
actually contribute a much greater ef-
ficiency gain than consumers realize.
In PCMO for instance, downsized GDI
(gasoline direct injection) engines with
turbochargers have a potential for 15%-
20% fuel economy gain but only when
paired with a modern engine oil engi-
neered to protect these new engines.
Additives can make up from 0.5%-
traditionally identified
by their base oil type
such as conventional,
synthetic or blend. The
aadditives used in lubricants
Other, 25% can help
h improve efficiency by
several mea
means.
Figure 1 | The overall lubricant demand of • Chemistry/formulation
2017. The Other category includes MWFs, • Friction reduction
process oils and grease. (Source: Kline Glob- • Viscosity index
al Lubricant Additives, fifth edition.) • Lubricant longevity
• Equipment life/protection.
25% of the lubricant, with the remain- The chemistry of lubricant additives
der composed of a base oil, yet the ad- and the specific blend of these compo-
ditive contribution often goes unnoticed nents in a fully formulated lubricant

W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 19

can enable OEMs to extract the high-
est potential out of their equipment.
Automotive OEMs have been downsiz-
33% thinner at room temperature
ing engines for fuel economy benefits,
and while these smaller engines can be
20% more efficient, they are not small
in power. With GDI and turbocharging, Equal high temperature viscosity
these engines can put out the power of
an engine more than double their size.
As the power density continues to
increase, modern engines become prone
to a phenomenon called low speed pre-
ignition (LSPI). LSPI is an abnormal
combustion event (similar to engine
knock) in which a phenomenon causes
off-cycle ignition of the fuel-air mixture, Figure 2 | Three examples of viscosity versus temperature. (Source: 10W-30 and 15W-30 PDS,
which leads to excessive pressure in the adjusted for an equal KV100 C, 200 VI lubricant was extrapolated by Kline.)
cylinder. In mild cases this causes rough
running and lower fuel economy/power,
but in more severe cases this can actu-
ally cause catastrophic engine failure.
Additive companies and OEMs have
worked together to develop the next
generation of engine oils that control
LSPI and allow these modern engines
to live up to their full potential. This has
been done through a careful rebalanc-
ing of detergent chemistries used in the
engine oil formulation to prevent LSPI.
One of the main roles of a lubricant
is reducing friction between moving
parts. Friction modifiers can play a sig-
Figure 3 | Kline forecasts strong growth in antioxidants, VIIs and friction modifiers while other
nificant role in reducing that dynamic
additive categories such as detergents and antiwear will see a significant shift in chemistry.
friction, and Kline forecasts growth in
(Source: Kline Global Lubricant Additives, fifth edition.)
friction modifier use in all end-use cat-
egories, although growth in PCMO will
be particularly strong. ture viscosity is now around 10% lower, guaranteed energy savings of at least
The viscosity index (VI) of a lubri- yet the operating temperature viscosity 3.5%. Honda also has been working
cant indicates the change in viscosity is equivalent and offers the same high- with lubricant blenders on a 200-VI
with regards to temperature, with high- temperature protection. The third ex- engine oil for its 2018-19 model year
er numbers indicating lower change. ample would be a high VI 0W-30 for- vehicles. The benefits of high VI lubri-
Viscosity index improvers (VIIs) or mulated with a modern VM to reach cants will only increase as we continue
viscosity modifiers (VMs) are additives a 200 VI. This fluid would reduce the to rely on hybrid and electric vehicles
that help increase the VI of a lubricant. low-temperature viscosity 33% more to meet future fuel economy standards.
What this means is an oil with a high- than the 10W-30. The combustion engine in a hy-
er VI number (e.g., 200) has a flatter The efficiency of a high-VI lubricant brid vehicle may only see short-term
viscosity curve, which translates to a can benefit any lubricated equipment service and infrequent use, so those
lubricant that doesn’t thicken as much that cycles on and off and operates engines will spend more time operat-
when temperatures drop. under fluctuating temperature condi- ing at lower temperatures and may not
Figure 2 shows three examples. The tions—hydraulic equipment, both sta- actually reach operating temperatures
first two are a 15W-30 with a VI of 128 tionary and off road, gas turbines on during a typical commute. The same
and a 10W-30 with a VI of 135. The planes and for power generation, as trends are seen in a renewable energy
switch from the 15W-30 to a 10W-30 well as gear oils used in wind turbines. power station that has a gas turbine
will typically give you a 1% fuel econ- Evonik, for example, is marketing a power generator to fill in gaps in power
omy improvement as the low-tempera- line of high-VI hydraulic fluids with generation. The gas turbines need to

20 Students at the institute had access to some books available in a raised-print format developed by the school’s founder Valentin Haüy.
quickly cycle on and off to provide a
continuous power source. One of the
easiest ways to conserve energy is to
use energy only when it is needed,
which will cause our equipment use to
become much more cyclical and drive
demand for VM use. High-VI lubricants
typically use a lower-viscosity, higher-
quality base oil along with additional
VM to meet the same high-temperature
protection. For example, a 0W-30 will
use more VM compared to a 10W-30.
Lubricant longevity also is a source
of resource and energy conservation.
While most of the increased efficiency
will be through a reduction in energy
usage, some will come in the form of
prolonged service intervals and equip-
ment life. Wind turbines here are a per-
fect example where traveling to remote
wind stations and taking equipment
offline to service will waste energy. In
this case a very long-life lubricant is the
best option for keeping equipment on-
line and generating power. In the case
of vehicles and industrial equipment,
it translates into less consumption of
overall lubricants. This will drive anti-
oxidant use in lubricants.
Protecting equipment is a major
source of resource conservation, as bro-
ken or worn out equipment requires
massive amounts of resource to replace.
Worn out equipment also tends to op-
erate less efficiently and consume more
lubricant volume. As OEMs downsize
equipment and increase power output,
they will switch to lighter, stronger ma-
terials that require the unique protection
that only additives can provide. Engine
OEMs, for example, are trying diamond-
like coatings (DLCs) in their engines, yet
have witnessed the DLC layer destroyed
with current-generation lubricants.
Modern engine oils could include tech-
nology from gear oils such as extreme
pressure (EP) additives to protect DLCs.
When you look beyond the viscos-
ity benefits of a lighter lubricant, the
additives and formulations can contrib-
ute much more than the percent or two
in efficiency gains typically associated
with an incremental drop in viscosity. It
will fall to the additive companies and
their vast knowledge about additives
and tribology to work with OEMs in
developing the next generation of ad-
ditives and formulations that will un-
lock the potential of future energy ef-
ficient lubricants. Kline forecasts strong
growth in antioxidants, VIIs and fric-
tion modifiers while other additive cat-
egories such as detergents and antiwear
will see a significant shift in chemistry
(see Figure 3).
David Tsui is a Project Manager
at Kline & Co. in the Energy
practice. You can reach him at
david.tsui@klinegroup.com.
Kline is an international provider
of world-class consulting
services and high-quality market intelligence for
industries including lubricants and chemicals.
Learn more at www.klinegroup.com.

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W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 21

FELLOWSHIP RESEARCH
Alkyl-Cyclens as Effective
Sulfur- and Phosphorus-Free
Friction Modifiers for Boundary Lubrication
Michael Desanker,1 Xingliang He,2 Jie Lu,2 Pinzhi Liu,2 David B. Pickens,2 Massimiliano Delferro,1 Tobin J. Marks,1 Yip-Wah Chung,3 and Q. Jane Wang,2
1
Department of Chemistry, 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, and 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
Editor’s Note: This month TLT profiles the 2017
recipient of The Elmer E. Klaus Fellowship,
Michael Desanker (Northwestern University). The
Klaus Fellowship, along with The E. Richard Booser
Scholarship, are awarded annually to graduate
and undergraduate students, respectively, who
have an interest in pursuing a career in tribology.
As a requirement for receiving a STLE scholarship,
students are given the opportunity to participate
in a tribology research project and to submit a
report summarizing their research.
Michael Desanker is a doctorate student
working with Professor Tobin J. Marks in the
chemistry department at Northwestern Univer-
sity. His research focuses on the design of new
lubricant additives to improve fuel efficiency in
motor vehicles. Desanker has designed addi-
tives to target friction and wear in the boundary
lubrication regime and to control viscosity in
hydrodynamic regime operation. You can reach
him at mdesanker@u.northwestern.edu.
22 The Haüy books were oversized, cumbersome and printed on heavy paper with embossed Latin
ABSTRACT
Modern automotive engines will require new lubricant additives ca-
pable of handling higher power densities and temperatures. In this
role, effective lubricant friction modifiers (FMs) must reduce friction
and wear, while enhancing fuel efficiency and not poisoning catalytic
converters. Here we report a new molecular FM design employing
multidentate ring structures having multiple amine binding groups,
each functionalized with a lubricious straight-chain hydrocarbon, to
enhance FM surface adsorption strength and lubricant film durability
in the critical boundary lubrication (BL) regime. As an example, a 1.0
wt% loading of the new thermally stable, sulfur- and phosphorus-free
FM, 1,4,7,10-tetradodecyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclo-dodecane, in a typical
additive–free lubricating base oil exhibits strongly enhanced surface
adsorption and friction reduction on steel surfaces versus commercially
available non-cyclic FMs and a fully formulated commercial 5W30 mo-
tor oil. Specifically, at this wt% additive loading in the Group III base
oil, the measured friction and wear are reduced by up to 70 % and 95
%, respectively, from the references established by using the base oil
only in the BL regime over a wide temperature range.
1 INTRODUCTION
Lubricating oils are essential for reducing friction and wear in the vast
majority of mechanical systems. Reduced friction and wear in turn
reduces energy consumption, enhances fuel efficiency, and improves
component lifetimes. In particular, friction in automotive engine com-
ponents accounts for significant energy/fuel consumption, decreases
the lifetimes of moving parts, and contributes to environmentally
harmful emissions.1-7 It is estimated that in 2009, 56 billion gallons of
diesel and gasoline motor fuel were expended worldwide to overcome
friction in passenger car engines.4 Since energy consumption scales
with rising population and living standards, this level of fuel wastage
is likely to grow substantially in the future.
The highest levels of friction generally occur in the boundary lu-
brication (BL) regime where the lubricating film thickness between
the two opposing surfaces is less than the corresponding arithmeti-
cally averaged surface roughness. BL regime operation is typically
experienced during automotive start/stop and low speed operations,
 where a lubricant film is unable to form and separate the
abrading surfaces. Furthermore, BL regime friction is gener-
ally the most severe/damaging, and thus critically impacts
fuel efficiency and the lifetime of the powertrain compo-
nents in motor vehicles. In this regard, the additives/friction
modifiers (FMs) present in lubricant oil packages are criti-
cal for enhancing the BL performance of high-performance
lubricants.8-9 Both organic8-18 and inorganic8, 10-11, 19-28 FMs
have been developed and widely employed as engine oil ad-
ditives to reduce BL regime friction. Note that it is essential
that such lubricant additives do not contain sulfur (S)- or
phosphorus (P)- bearing constituents that can poison cata-
lytic converters and detrimentally affect automotive emis-
sion control systems.29-30 Organic FMs typically have high
molecular aspect ratios as in linear, non-polar hydrocarbon
chains and their derivatives, functionalized with terminal
polar groups.8-11 The effectiveness of these FMs is in large
part determined by their tendency to form adsorbed mono-/
multi-layers on surfaces of metals or their oxides, which
entrain lubricant oil molecules near the surface and increase
the separation between uneven and rough abrading surfaces
(known as asperities).31-32 This functionality is enhanced
jointly by polar groups that bind to surfaces via physisorp-
tion and non-polar hydrocarbon portions that enhance the
BL film stability via chain entanglement.8-9
In this contribution, we report the forerunners of a new
class of S- and P- free heterocyclic FMs that utilize the che-
late effect to enhance surface adsorption, reinforce BL film
formation, and greatly reduce friction via ring structures hav-
ing multiple amine binding groups, each functionalized with
a straight-chain hydrocarbon. We report two FMs based on
the 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane skeleton (cyclen, Figure
1a) having four amine groups capable of hydrogen bonding
to an oxide surface, and functionalized with hydrocarbon
chains (1a, 1b). The chelate effect is formally defined as the
Figure 1 | (a) Molecular structures of cyclen (1), and commercially
available FMs, Armeen® T (2), and Duomeen® C (3). (b) Plausible sur-
face binding modes for these molecules.
letters. The reader traced his or her fingers over the paper, but it was a slow and difficult process.
enhanced affinity of multi-dentate ligands for a metal center
versus the affinity of a collection of similar mono-dentate
ligands for the same center, but can be extended to cover
other types of interactions.33 In the context of biomolecules,
the similar term avidity refers to the accumulated strength of
multiple affinities of individual non-covalent binding interac-
tions by virtue of multiple attachments.34-35 These concepts are
now applied here to FM molecule design to enhance lubricant
adsorption on surfaces and to reduce BL friction (Figure 1b).
It will be seen that these new FMs exhibit excellent thermal
and hydrolytic stability, as well as exceptional low-friction
functionality in the BL regime. In control experiments, the
new FMs are compared to commercially available AkzoNo-
bel Armeen® T (2), a tallow-derived primary amine FM, and
mono-alkyl ethylenediamine FM, Duomeen® C (3, Figure 1a),
and a fully formulated motor oil (Pennzoil 5W30) using pin-
on-disk tribometry. It will be seen that the S- and P-free poly-
dentate cyclen FMs reduce friction by as much as ~ 70% and
wear by ~ 95% over a wide temperature range in Group III oil.
Moreover, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal en-
hanced surface adsorption and BL film stability for the cyclen
FMs, in accord with the improved tribological performance.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Materials and Chemicals
The 1-bromoalkanes and 2.5M n-butyllithium in hexanes
were obtained from Sigma Aldrich and used as received. The
heterocycle 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclo-dodecane was obtained
from Matrix Scientific and used as received. All manipula-
tions of air-sensitive materials were carried out with rigorous
exclusion of oxygen and moisture in flame- or oven-dried
Schlenk-type glassware on a dual-manifold Schlenk line.
Tetrahydrofuran (THF) was purified by distillation from Na/
benzophenone ketyl. The deuterated solvents chloroform-d
(CDCl3) and cyclohexane-d12 (C6D12) were obtained from
Cambridge Isotope Laboratories (> 99 atom % D) and dried
over 3Å molecular sieves. A commercial Group III lubricat-
ing oil from Ashland Inc. was used as the base oil without
further treatment, and is a typical base oil for automotive
applications. Two commercial sulfur (S) and phosphorus (P)-
free friction modifiers, alkylamine (Armeen® T) and alkyl-
diamine (Duomeen® C), from AkzoNobel and a commercial
fully formulated 5W30 engine oil from Pennzoil were used
as references in tribo-tests. E52100 steel disks were used in
tribo-tests, and their hardness was measured to be ~ 545.19
HV (5.347 GPa). Its typical chemical composition is as the
following: sulfur, ~ 0.025 wt. %; silicon, ~ 0.15 - 0.35 wt. %;
phosphorus, ~ 0.025 wt. %; manganese, ~ 0.25 - 0.45 wt. %;
chromium, ~ 1.30 - 1.60 wt. %; carbon, ~ 0.95 - 1.1 wt. %;
and balance iron.
2.2 General Procedure for Synthesis of FM Additives
This synthesis is adapted from a literature procedure.36 An n-
butyllithium solution (21 mL, 52 mmol) is gradually added
to a mixture of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (2.0 g, 11.6
23
mmol) in THF (120 mL) at -78°C. The mixture is stirred
for 1.0 h at -78°C and then warmed to 0°C and stirred for
another 1.0 h. The desired 1-bromoalkane (46 mmol) is next
added and the reaction is allowed to warm to room tempera-
ture overnight. The reaction mixture is then quenched with
ethanol (10 mL), centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 10 min, and
the supernatant decanted and concentrated to dryness. The
residue is recrystallized from methanol, and then recrystal-
lized from hexanes.
2.3 Synthesis of 1,4,7,10-Tetra(dodecyl)-1,4,7,10-tet-
raazacyclododecane (1a)
Synthesized with 1-bromododecane (11.2 mL, 46 mmol).
Product isolated as a white solid (29% yield). 1H NMR (nu-
clear magnetic resonance, CDCl3) spectroscopy: b 2.61 (s,
16H, -NCH2CH2N-), 2.36 (t, 8H, -NCH2CH2-), 1.43 (qu, 8H,
-NCH2CH2CH2-), 1.26 (m, 72H, hydrocarbon chain), 0.88
(t, 12H, -CH2CH3). 13C NMR (CDCl3): 56.23, 52.19, 31.95,
29.74, 29.71, 29.70, 29.68, 29.39, 27.75, 27.35, 22.71, 14.14.
Exact mass [measured by electrospray ionization mass spec-
trometry (ESI-MS)] 845.13 m/z. Elemental analysis calculated
for C56H116N4: C, 79.55; H, 13.83; N, 6.63. Found: C, 79.59;
H, 14.37; N, 6.64.
2.4 Synthesis of 1,4,7,10-Tetra(octadecyl)-1,4,7,10-tet-
raazacyclododecane (1b)
Synthesized with 1-bromooctadecane (15.7 mL, 46 mmol).
Product isolated as a white solid (23% yield). 1H NMR
(CDCl3) spectroscopy: b 2.61 (s, 16H, -NCH2CH2N-), 2.36
(t, 8H, -NCH2CH2-), 1.44 (qu, 8H, -NCH2CH2CH2-), 1.26 (m,
120H, hydrocarbon chain), 0.88 (t, 12H, -CH2CH3). 13C NMR
(CDCl3): 56.37, 52.35, 32.09, 29.89, 29.86, 29.84, 29.53,
27.89, 27.50, 22.86, 14.28. Exact mass (measured by ESI-MS)
1181.50 m/z. Elemental analysis calculated for C74H152N4: C,
80.94; H, 13.95; N, 5.10. Found: C, 81.31; H, 14.23; N, 4.71.
2.5 Characterizations of the FMs
NMR spectra were recorded on Varian UNITY Inova™ 500
(FT, 500MHz, 1H; 125MHz, 13C) or Agilent F500 (DDR2, FT,
500MHz, 1H; 125MHz, 13C) instruments. Chemical shifts
for 1H and 13C spectra are referenced using internal solvent
resonances. Elemental analyses were performed by Galbraith
Laboratories, Inc. (Knoxville, TN). In order to investigate
stability while in a solvated state, NMR samples of the addi-
tives were heated at 90 ºC for four days in cyclohexane-d12.
Chloroform-d1 was used for 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy to
verify structure and purity because peaks were better resolved
and the chloroform solvent peak (b7.26 ppm) does not over-
lap with the sample peaks. Cyclohexane-d12 is used for the
thermal stability 1H NMR tests because it mimics the nonpolar
aprotic environment of base oil. The cyclohexane solvent peak
(b1.41 ppm) overlaps with some of the alkyl 1H signals. After
two days, 0.1 mL of deionized H2O was added to the NMR
samples to mimic atmospheric moisture dissolved in the base
oil. NMR spectra were taken once each day during the test.
24 Using these primitive books, Braille became a top student, particularly excelling in music.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed on a
TA Q50 ultramicro balance instrument (ramp rate = 5°C min-1
and under a N2 flow rate of 90 mL min-1 at atmospheric pres-
sure. Advancing aqueous contact angles were measured using
an AmScope MU300 Microscope Digital Camera. Coated film
chemical compositions were assessed with an Omicron ESCA
Al K_ probe X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) under
high vacuum (<10-8 Torr). 1 cm2 52100 steel substrates were
used for XPS and water contact angle measurements. The
steel disks were ground and polished to a mirror finish us-
ing a 3μm diamond slurry at the final polishing stage. Before
coating, the steel substrates were cleaned in an ultrasonic bath
with 200 proof ethanol to remove any slurry residue, oil, or
loose wear particles. They were then dried with compressed
air and placed in a UV oven for 20 min. Dip-coating involved
submerging the substrates in a 1 wt% loading of the desired
FM in Group III oil for 12 h at 120°C. The substrates were
then allowed to cool and washed with toluene to remove any
loose material and oil. The substrates were then dried with
compressed air. X-ray reflectivity (XRR) data were acquired
using e-2escans on a computer interfaced Rigaku ATX-G
diffractometer using Ni-filtered Cu K_ radiation. The same
dip-coating procedure as that on steel substrates was adopted
for XRR samples but with monocrystalline silicon substrates.
The silicon substrates used have a native oxide layer thickness
of 300 nm as reported by the manufacturer. The thickness of
this oxide layer was also measured by XRR and found to be
303.9 nm, indicating that our film thickness measurements
are fairly accurate.
2.6 Tribological investigations
Pin-on-disk tests were carried out using a CETR UMT-2 tri-
bometer. The pin-on-disk configuration consists of a rotating
disk (E52100 steel) and a fixed pin (M50 bearing steel ball, ’
9.53 mm). A FM additive was dispersed in the base oil via ul-
trasonication for 20 min. In the experiment, 2.0 ml lubricant
(Group III oil with and without 1 wt% FMs) was applied to
the disk. During the measurements, the linear speed was set
to 1.5 mm/s and the ambient temperature was set from 25ºC
to 200ºC) under 3N (~ 700 MPa of max Hertzian contact
pressure). The duration of each test was 30 minutes. Averaged
friction coefficients and standard deviation were analyzed.
Wear tracks were examined using a Zygo® NewView™ 7300
3D optical surface profiler. Wear coefficients were calculated
using the Archard equation:
Wear volume (m3) =Surface hardness (Pa)
Wear coefficient = ——————————————————
Normal load (N) =Sliding distance (m)
Lubricant film formation in the different lubrication regimes
was evaluated at 125 ºC under the pure rolling operation us-
ing an elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) measurement
system (PCS Instruments). Rolling of an E52100 steel ball
(’ 19.05 mm) under 20 N load (~ 540 MPa of max Hertzian
a) b)
c)
contact pressure) was driven by a glass disk coated with a Cr
film and a SiO2 spacer, and the disk velocity increased from ~
1 mm/s to 3,500 mm/s. This interferometry-based technique
can measure oil film thickness from sub-nm to μm. Group III
oils with or without 1 wt% of different additives comprised
the lubricants tested in this study. Variation of the lubricant
film thickness as a function of the rolling speed was recorded
during each EHL test.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The cyclen FMs were synthesized by deprotonation of
1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane with n-butyllithium, followed
by addition of the desired alkylbromide (1-bromododecane
or 1-bromooctadecane). After purification by recrystalliza-
tion, their structures and purity were established by standard
spectroscopic and analytical techniques.
Motor oils can experience temperature excursions up to
200°C in automotive engines during extreme service condi-
tions.37-39 Therefore, FM thermal stability is important if per-
sistent friction reduction is desired. Thermal decomposition
of the FM will detrimentally affect its ability to reduce friction.
The cyclen derivatives are found to exhibit excellent thermal
stability (via TGA) with the onset of thermal decomposition
for 1a not until ~ 300°C under air (Figure 2a).
The tribological efficacy of FMs reflects their ability to
form adsorbed mono-/multi-layers on metal/metal oxide sur-
faces. The presence of adsorbed FM layers on 52100 steel
substrates was investigated by XPS after a dip-coating/rinsing
process. The dip-coating process involves submerging the 1
cm2 52100 steel substrates in 1 wt% loading of the FM 1a in
Group III base oil for 12 h at 120°C, followed by rinsing with
toluene and drying in air. This rinsing is used to remove any
base oil or additive not strongly bound to the metal surface.
Nitrogen (1s) XPS was next used to assay presence of the
heterocyclic FM on the surface with a substrate dip-coated in
W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
Figure 2 | (a) Thermogravimmetric
analysis traces assessing the ther-
mal stability of cyclen derivative 1a.
Temperature ramped at 5°C/min
from 30°C to 650°C under N2 flow of
90 mL/min. (b) N (1s) XPS spectra of
52100 steel disks dip-coated in 1
wt% solution of 1a in Group III oil,
then rinsed with toluene. (c) Aque-
ous advancing contact angle goni-
ometry of the same steel disks dip-
coated with the indicated FMs.
pure Group III oil and rinsed, to serve as a control. While a
strong N 1s signal is detected for the substrate treated with 1
wt% 1a in Group III oil after toluene rinsing (Figure 2b), no
N signal is detected in the same experiment with the Group
III oil only.
It is generally accepted that hydrophobic surfaces have
lower coefficients of friction than do hydrophilic surfaces.40-43
Thus, advancing aqueous contact angle goniometry was next
used to probe the hydrophobicity of steel substrate surfaces
after dip-coating with the various FMs (Figure 2c). Adsorp-
tion of heterocyclic FM 1a results in a marked increase in
surface hydrophobicity due to high density of hydrophobic
alkyl side chains versus commercial FMs, such as glyceryl mo-
nooleate,44 carboxylic acids,45 fatty amides,46, and the Armeen
T® and Duomeen C® fatty amines evaluated in this research
(Figure 2c). As discussed above, it is reasonable that multiple
chelating N binding sites in FM molecule 1a enhance surface
adsorption, resulting in a greater adsorbed FM surface densi-
ties.47 XRR was next used to characterize the adsorbed FM
1a film thickness and roughness on Si/SiO2. Si/SiO2 was used
for XRR characterization because the lower surface rough-
ness should enable more accurate metrical analysis than the
polished steel substrates. The thickness of the chelating 1a
film after dip coating/toluene rinsing is 6.51 nm with a surface
roughness of 0.67 nm. This corresponds to ca.15-25 layers of
1a molecules on the surface packed with relative uniformity
on the surface.
The capacity of the new cyclen-based FMs and commer-
cially available amines to reduce BL friction was investigated
by pin-on-disk tribometry (Figure 3a). A 1 wt% loading of
each additive dissolved in Group III oil was evaluated with
a 3N normal load (corresponding to ~700 MPa maximum
Hertzian contact pressure) and 1.5 mm/s rotational speed.
In a gasoline engine, the crank shaft bearing system, valve
train, and piston-liner contact are the three primary sources
FEBRUARY 2018 • 25
 a)
Figure 3 | (a) Variable temperature pin-on-disk tribometry of BL friction reduction at the indicated temperatures. Each FM sample was evalu-
ated in 1 wt% loading in Group III oil. Error bars are omitted for clarity; (b) Wear coefficients for disks used in the pin-on-disk tests (logarithmic
scale); representative wear scars inserted and collected from the 100°C pin-on-disk tests, as circled on the plots (profile dimension: 0.31 mm =
0.25 mm = 1.5μm).
of energy losses to friction and can reach temperatures as
high as 200°C;6, 38-39 therefore, pin-on-disk measurements were
conducted over the temperature range from 25°C to 200°C
over a period of 30 min. Film thickness calculations using the
Reynolds equation48-49 show that the estimated oil film thick-
ness is below the surface root-mean roughness; hence these
test parameters realistically simulate BL conditions. Figure 3a
shows first how the coefficient of friction (CoF) increases for
pure Group III oil with increasing temperature. Importantly,
note that cyclen 1a affords the lowest CoFs and continues to
reduce boundary friction as the temperature increases, reach-
ing ~70% friction reduction versus the control Group III oil
at 200°C. Note also that cyclen 1a significantly outperforms
commercial FMs Armeen® T and Duomeen® C, and reduces
friction by ~ 45% over a commercial fully-formulated 5W30
motor oil at 100°C. At higher temperatures, fluid film thick-
ness is expected to fall dramatically due to reduced viscosity
and more severe asperity contacts, resulting in destructive
tribo/tribochemical processes.50-53 FMs are essential for sepa-
rating asperities and enhancing the BL film stability at high
temperatures so as to minimize adverse tribological effects.
Next, the volume of the wear scars on the steel disks used
in the pin-on-disk tests was evaluated by white light interfer-
ometry and used to compute the wear coefficients, plotted in
Figure 3b. Note that the new heterocyclic FM 1a reduces wear
coefficient by an order of magnitude over the base oil without
additives. Three-dimensional images of representative wear
scars obtained by interferometry are shown as insets in Figure
3b. The test disk lubricated with 1 wt% of 1a in Group III oil
shows significantly reduced void volumes and material build-
up versus the same substrate lubricated with pure Group III
oil, indicating far less wear.54-56 Damaging the oxide layer on
steel surfaces exposes the reactive metal underneath, which
then catalyzes tribochemical reactions and generate reactive
26 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
b)
intermediates and unstable free radicals, thereby contributing
to wear and lubricant degradation.57-59 The new cyclen FMs
that substantially reduce wear appear to operate by suppress-
ing the undesirable tribochemical reactions and separating
surfaces in asperity contacts.
The dependence of BL film formation on surface adsorp-
tion temperature was next characterized with an EHL mea-
surement system. This was conducted to better understand
the mechanism of cyclen action, and to understand why the
new FMs outperform their commercial counterparts. Con-
ventional amine FMs are typically chain-like molecules with
polar termini, and function by forming an adsorbed molecular
layer bound by intermolecular interactions between the polar
head groups and the contacting surface.8-11 We envision that
altering the molecular FM structure by introducing multiple
polar groups and slippery hydrocarbon tails should enhance
the FM molecular binding strength and reduce asperity con-
tacts. The BL film-forming capacity of various FMs was first
investigated in base oil to probe the validity of this hypoth-
esis. Thus, lubricant film thicknesses were evaluated at high
temperature (125°C) under a pure rolling operation (see SI).
In most of the hydrodynamic and mixed lubrication regime,
the logarithm of lubricant film thickness should scale linearly
with the logarithm of the rolling speed based on the Hamrock-
Dowson equation:60-64
Hc (Central film thickness) = 2.69 G0.53 U0.67 W−0.067 (1 − 0.61 e−0.73k)
where, G, U, and W are the dimensionless contact param-
eters of materials strength, speed, and load, respectively; k is a
contact ellipticity parameter, taking the ellipsoidal-contact ge-
ometry into account. This linear variation is indeed indicated
by the straight line plot in Figure 4a. Determining the critical
rolling speed at the border to boundary layer lubrication is
W W W. ST L E .O RG
a) b)

c) d)

Figure 4 | (a) EHL tests for mixtures with 1 wt% FM in Group III oil at 125°C; the logarithm-scale linear variation of film thickness with rolling
speed in mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication regimes is highlighted by the blue solid line. (b) MD simulation of a single cyclen molecule ad-
sorbed on a hydrated silica surface. (c) MD modeling of the time-dependent surface adsorption processes at room temperature. (d) Simulated
surface interaction energies of 20 FM and base oil molecules on a hydrated silica surface.

essential for identifying BL film formation, which is the point
at which the film thickness no longer decreases with rolling
speed reduction. In the present work, 1a forms BL films at
higher critical rolling speeds than do the base oils with or
without added commercial FMs. Of the lubricant mixtures
investigated, 1 wt% of cyclen 1a in Group III oil increases
the BL film thickness the most (empty diamond dotted line
in Figure 4a), while Armeen® T and Duomeen® C fail to re-
inforce BL films at such high temperatures (125°C) as shown
by the solid triangle and diamond dotted lines in Figure 4a,
where their thicknesses fall rapidly at reduced rolling speeds,
indicating that no effective BL films form with these two com-
mercial FMs at high temperatures.
MD simulations using the large-scale atomic/molecular
massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS)65 were next conduct-
ed to complement the experimental friction results. Figure
4b shows an MD simulation of a cyclen molecule interact-
ing with a hydrated silica surface. A silica surface was cho-
sen because the structure terminated with hydroxyl groups
is well-established, and is a reasonable starting model for
an oxide-covered steel surface, which currently is less well-
defined.66 MD results reveal that as the amine centers of the
cyclen molecule approach the substrate surface, interaction
energies involving hydrogen-bonding increase (Figure 4c).
Note that FM 1a has a higher surface interaction energy than
the primary amine (1-dodecylamine) or the base oil molecule,

W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 27

meaning that the former adsorbs more strongly to the surface.
Figure 4d shows how interaction energies of 20 FM or base
oil molecules with the hydrated silica surface change with
temperature. The simulation shows that FM 1a consistently
maintains a greater interaction energy with the surface than
the primary amine, which can be attributed to cyclen mol-
ecules having multiple surface-active amine centers, thus en-
hancing surface adsorption via chelation. Although it is not
certain if all four N centers are coordinated to the surface at
all times, the heterocyclic cyclen FM offers multiple binding
options for two or more N centers to interact with the surface.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A novel sulfur- and phosphorous-free polydentate FM pro-
totype was designed, synthesized, and evaluated in the pres-
ent study for boundary lubrication. Thermally stable FM 1a
reduces BL friction dramatically (up to ~70%, compared to
the base oil) over a wide temperature range, surpassing the
performance of current commercial FMs and a fully formu-
lated commercial engine oil. These multidentate heterocyclic
molecules integrate significant friction reduction capability
with substantial anti-wear ability. Experimental characteriza-
tion and MD simulations demonstrate that the enhanced sur-
face adsorption and BL film reinforcement are two principal
factors underlying the superior BL performance of these new
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5 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their deepest apprecia-
tion to the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
for providing the E. Elmer Klaus Fellowship to support this
project. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial sup-
port from the US Department of Energy under contract
DE-EE0006449. The NMR instrumentation at IMSERC was
supported by the National Science Foundation under CHE-
9871268 and GC-MS instrumentation was supported by a
donation from Pfizer. M. Desanker was supported by the De-
partment of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense
Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Pro-
gram. We thank Mr. Z. Liu for EHL film thickness calculation,
Drs. A. Erdemir and A. Greco of Argonne National Laboratory,
Drs. F. Lockwood and N. Ren of Ashland Corp., Dr. Y. He of
Sinopec Corp., and Mr. B. Johnson for helpful discussions. We
thank Mr. L. Kangmeng for help in disk preparation and Dr.
A. Mouat for assistance with XRR data collection. Desanker,
M. and He, X. contributed equally to this work.
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2. Eliminate impact of operator-to-
operator variability
3. Decrease mathematical errors
4. Enable unattended operation
5. Make better use of operator skills
6. Shorten time spent on sample
processing and testing
7. Reduce calibration costs
8. Lessen consumable usage and
disposal cost
9. Improve lab safety
10. Increase traceability and
reporting options
2139 High Tech Road • State College • PA • 16803
814-353-8000 • 800-676-6232 • Fax 814-353-8007
W W W. ST L E .O RG
REFERENCES
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LUBRICATION FUNDAMENTALS
Dr. Robert M. Gresham / Contributing Editor
Green energy: Is it sustainable?
Nations that want to live entirely off the sun’s energy must
find a way to make their initiatives affordable.
YOU’VE HEARD MY THOUGHTS ABOUT the
economic viability of some of our green
energy initiatives. In a nutshell, devel-
oped nations seek to reduce greenhous-
es gases, reliance on nuclear power and
use less fossil fuels. Admirable goals.
These nations also have the wealth
to experiment with and economically
support various green energy initiatives
to reduce all emissions and use of fos-
sil fuels. The problem is—how do you
do this and stay in balance? That is,
by subsidizing the development and
use of green energy initiatives that, at
least right now, are not cost effective,
32 • FEBRUARY 2018
these nations are adding a cost to their
economies and their citizens that might
not be sustainable, depending on the
size and longevity of the added costs.
Conversely, developing nations will
not grow and keep developing unless
they can secure reliable sources of en-
ergy at a price their economies can af-
ford. Thus, these nations, left on their
own, will consume more and more of
the less expensive fossil fuels and per-
haps nuclear power. They also are less
concerned with emissions.
As these developing nations become
more economically viable, they will, in
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
© Can Stock Photo / paulista
turn, put more economic pressure on
the developed nations that already are
carrying added costs by selling goods
and services at inherently lower prices
to secure market share. Thus, green
energy will not be sustainable unless
the developed nations can find a way,
through science and technology, to
make the costs go down to competi-
tive and thus sustainable levels.
Using today’s vernacular, “How’s it
working for ya?” As we have written
here before, Germany has been one of
the key pioneers in the use of green en-
ergy. It made a significant commitment
W W W. ST L E .O RG
to the development and use of green
energy while reducing, by significant
amounts, its reliance on nuclear- and
fossil-based fuels. However, recently
Berlin conceded that it will miss its 2020
goal to cut carbon emissions by 40%
compared to 1990 levels; Germany es-
timates an approximate 30% reduction
will be achieved. Further the goal of a
55% by 2030 is considered out of reach.
According to a recent Wall Street
Journal article, it is estimated that busi-
ness and households paid an extra €125
billion (~$148 billion) in increased elec-
tricity costs between 2000 and 2010 to
subsidize renewables. Germany and
Denmark pay the highest household
electricity rates in Europe, and German
companies pay near the top for indus-
trial users. In 2010 Germany escalated
the effort by increasing the energy-emis-
sions targets that it currently is missing.
Further, Germany established the goal
of reducing energy consumption by
50% of the 2008 level by 2050, includ-
ing a 25% reduction in electricity use.
The complete solution for success
sealandchem.com | (440) 871-7887
W W W. ST L E .O RG
Nations that subsidize the
development and use of
green energy add a cost to
their economies that might
not be sustainable.
After the Fukushima incident, where
an earthquake-caused tsunami severely
disabled a nuclear power plant in Japan,
Germany began taking steps to phase
out its nuclear power by 2022.
In terms of electricity-generating
capacity, renewables are now almost
equal to traditional fuel sources. But
only a third of Germany’s electricity is
actually generated by renewables. Wind
and solar work best in the north, but
Germany’s industrial centers tend to be
in the south, and sufficient transmis-
sion systems don’t yet exist. Germany
also hasn’t yet solved the problem of
Delivering Excellence
Through Expertise.
Technical Responsive
expertise. service.
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
what to do when the wind doesn’t blow
and the sun doesn’t shine. Thus, the
nation must rely on “dirty coal” to fill
these gaps, which represents about 40%
of its current power.
The end result is that German house-
holds pay an average of about 36 cents
per kilowatt-hour versus about 13 cents
in the U.S. That’s a big, big difference.
Sadly, Germany is a good example
of the difficulty that a truly developed
nation has in finding a way, through
science and technology, to reduce costs
to competitive, sustainable levels. Pass-
ing a law doesn’t make it so.
So when I ask the question: “Green
energy: Is it sustainable?” I’d say the
jury is definitely still out, but not look-
ing so good.
Bob Gresham is STLE’s director
of professional development.
You can reach him at
rgresham@stle.org.
Efficient
logistics.
FEBRUARY 2018 • 33
WEBINARS
Jeanna Van Rensselar / Senior Feature Writer

Determining
best
the
particle analysis

© Can Stock Photo / djedzura

test Critical factors include industry
standards, equipment costs and
the amount of expertise required.

THE GOAL OF THIS ARTICLE, and the Webinar it is based

on, is to help determine which particle analysis test(s)
are most appropriate in given circumstances. This article
will go over the most common particle analysis tests used
to monitor contamination in industrial lubrication. The
ultimate goal is to explain the basics of these tests, what
information they convey and what needs to be considered
when deciding which to choose. It’s important not to lose
sight of the initial reason for considering particle analysis.
Possible reasons include:
• The customer is requiring it in order to meet a stan-
dard. This means the test and equipment need to meet
the requested standard, whether ASTM, ISO or other.

34 Braille was inspired to develop a better system after learning about a raised
 MEET THE PRESENTERS

This article is based on a Webinar originally presented by STLE Education on May 3,

2017. Determining the Right Particle Analysis for your Application is available at
www.stle.org: $39 to STLE members, $59 for all others.
Bridget Dubbert is the technical director for Engineered Lubricants in St. Louis, Mo.
She has been involved in all aspects of the metalworking and lubrication industries for
more than 18 years with roles in formulating, lab testing, field support and technical
service. Dubbert is a STLE Certified Metalworking Fluids Specialist™. You can reach
Dubbert at bdubbert@englube.com.
Melissa James has worked in industrial lubrication for 24 years. As lead imaging
technician for Engineered Lubricants she focuses on used oil testing and investigative
analysis. She has extensive experience in X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and wear particle Bridget Dubbert Melissa James
analysis by ferrography, light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-
EDX). You can reach James at m.james.stl@gmail.com.

• A predictive maintenance program is 2. Generated. Most contamination is

in place that includes trend analysis.
• There is a need to predict and pre-
vent failures and plan downtime.
• Customers want to conduct research
in order to build a better filter, de-
velop a cleaner oil, keep in-plant
lubrication cleaner, etc.
WHICH TESTS ARE BEST?
In-line and on-line analyzers are au-
tomated and usually utilize the same
technology as laboratory analyzers:
light extinction or pore blockage (see
In-line/On-line Testing Options). These
are typically used in critical equipment
or when sampling can be difficult or
dangerous and can include alarms, au-
to-shutdown and graphing over time.
However, this article focuses on at-line
and off-line tests.
• At-line. An amount of fluid is removed
from the process system and tested
outside of the equipment but nearby
in the plant or production area. In
other words, a bottle sample is taken
and tested immediately on site. This
allows for a few more testing options
while still providing quick turn-
around time and action. Consistency
of sampling point is crucial.
• Off-line. Just as with at-line, a bottle
sample is removed from the system,
IN-LINE/ON-LINE TESTING OPTIONS
In-line. This refers to taking the mea-
surement or analyzing fluid directly in
the process stream. These analyzers
do not disrupt the flow. The idea is to
get a snapshot of the actual condi-
tions of the fluid at that moment.
On-line. Sometimes the terms in-line
and on-line are used interchangeably
because neither removes the fluid
sample from the process. The differ-
ence between them is for on-line;
the process fluid is detoured to the
analyzer. This allows for control over
the flow rate and pressure when the
process itself doesn’t allow for
accurate results using in-line.
but it is sent to a laboratory. This
allows for many more testing op-
tions, a controlled environment and
focused expertise but also leads to
longer turnaround time.
CONTAMINATION SOURCES
There are four means of contamination.
1. Built-in. The contamination occurs
during system assembly or part
replacement. These parts/sources
typically include: cylinders, hy-
draulic motors, hoses, fittings,
pipes, pumps, reservoirs, valves
and fluids.
generated in use during break-in
and operation; this is where predic-
tive maintenance comes in.
3. External ingression. The source of
contamination is external to the ma-
chinery (nearby processes). Typical
routes include reservoir breathing
and seals. Once inside a system,
dirt, sand, welding debris, etc.,
become abrasives and wear down
components.
4. Introduced. The potential for intro-
ducing contamination when ser-
vicing a system is frequently over-
looked. This can happen during
disassembly/assembly, via make-up
oil and during repairs including re-
placing parts.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE MEASURED?
The next consideration is what needs
to be measured, and while there are
many possible measurements, the most
common are:
• Total debris. This is a simple way to
monitor overall contamination—
the total weight in set volume.
• Biggest particle. This involves look-
ing for the critical particle. Once
particles of a certain size are detect-
ed, failure is imminent.
• Distribution. Size distribution is used

dots method devised by Capt. Charles Barbier with Napoleon’s French Army. 35
 most often. This is most common in
lubricant condition monitoring.
• Composition. This is another fre-
quent measurement—identifying
the element/alloy and identifying
the source.
TEST OPTIONS
There are a number of test options. The
discussion here will center on the basic
principles of how they work, what they
are actually measuring and the pros
and cons. These tests include:
1. Elemental Analysis: ICP-OES,
XRF-EDS
2. Gravimetric
3. Automatic Particle Counting,
Light Extinction/Light Diffraction,
LaserNet Fines, Pore blockage
4. Ferrous Analysis: Ferrous Index/
PQ, DR Ferrography
5. Advanced Analysis: Manual Opti-
cal Microscopy—FPT, Automatic
Optical Microscopy, Analytical
Ferrography, SEM-EDS.
1. ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS
For this test, inductively coupled plasma
atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES)
is used. A liquid sample is introduced
as an aerosol to a plasma. The plasma
excites atoms in the sample. When the
Figure 1 | What gravimetric analysis measures.
36 • FEBRUARY 2018
electrons of these atoms return to their
ground state, they emit electromagnetic
radiation (light) at wavelengths charac-
teristic to each element. In other words,
every element gives off a unique wave-
length that can be detected and mea-
sured. The intensity of this emission
correlates to the concentration of the
element within the sample.
• Pros of ICP-AES: sensitive to trace
metals, accurate, high sample
throughput.
• Cons: size limit typically <10 μm, dai-
ly calibration, sample prep, destruc-
tive, expensive (often prohibitively).
Another elemental analysis test option
is XRF-EDS.
• Pros: no particle size limit, no reg-
ular calibration, non-destructive,
fast, can be at-line.
• Cons: not as sensitive, matrix-de-
pendent, interferences, expensive.
2. GRAVIMETRIC
Gravimetric is one of the most basic
tests (see Figure 1). The insoluble con-
tamination is determined by passing
a fluid sample through a membrane
filter disk with a known pore size
and measuring the resulting increase
in the mass of the filter. These mem-
branes come in different pore sizes
and materials.
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
There are three time-related
options for testing oil:
• Before use. Test new oil as
received, when cleanliness is
critical.
• In use. This is when the fluid
is tested while in service.
There are many advantages
to this and several ways to
accomplish it.
• After use. Testing at time of
lubricant replacement; during
scheduled changes some of
the drained fluid is analyzed.
• Pros: basic lab equipment, inexpen-
sive, easy.
• Cons: no particle sizing/distribu-
tion, no morphology, no composi-
tion, includes ALL insoluble mate-
rial, not sensitive.
3. AUTOMATIC PARTICLE COUNTING
(AUTOMATIC OPTICAL LIGHT)
Automatic optical or light particle
counters can be on-line, at-line as
portable devices or off-line laboratory
equipment. When in the laboratory,
the fluid sample is diluted, shaken
and placed in a vacuum to remove any
entrained air. The fluid is then drawn
through a capillary tube past the light
source. Then a photo detector on the
opposite side works in one of the fol-
lowing ways.
Light Extinction/Light Diffraction/
Light Extinction
This measures light scattered in terms
of equivalent circular diameter (ECD).
The software uses the analyzed total
area of the particle and answers the
question, “If the particle were a perfect
circle, what would the diameter be?”
• Pros: easy, fast, meets many stan-
dards, on-line, at-line, off-line.
• Cons: no composition, largest par-
ticle size limited by sensor choice
(typical 600 μm). ÎÎÎÎÎ
W W W. ST L E .O RG
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Figure 2 | Analytical ferrography slides.
LaserNet Fines®
Automatic Optical/Light
LaserNet Fines® was developed by Lock-
heed Martin and the Naval Research
Laboratory to measure the size distribu-
tion and shape of wear debris in lubricat-
ing oil. It has been successfully deployed
aboard naval vessels in an oil analysis-
based predictive maintenance program
and used by oil analysis labs. It only
detects shadows, but by using a camera
detection shapes can be categorized.
• Pros: on-line or off-line; no regu-
lar calibration, water, fibers (better
with dark); some morphology.
• Cons: no composition, size limits
4-100 μm.
Pore/Mesh Blockage
Testing devices come in portable, hand-
held or on-line versions. The fluid is
38 Intended for nighttime communication, Barbier’s system was based on an array of 12 dots rearranged to
passed through a calibrated mesh
screen or screens with known pore
size. This is basically a metal version of
the gravimetric test. As the mesh traps
particles, the flow of fluid is slowed. A
detector measures this change in pres-
sure and converts this into a value.
• Pros: on-line or off-line; not affected
by air, water; dark oils, multi-phase,
large particles.
• Cons: no morphology, no composi-
tion.
4. FERROUS INDEX (FERROGRAPHY)
This is the study of ferrous wear (any-
thing containing iron). There are three
main tests associated with this.
PQ (Particle Quantifier)
These machines essentially have two
magnets situated so the magnetic field
is in equilibrium. When oil is set on the
analyzer, any ferrous debris will disrupt
this field. The amount of disruption is
assigned a unit-less value that relates
to level of disruption to the magnetic
field. This unit-less number is called
the Ferrous Index or PQ index.
• Pros: fast, low-cost, little sample
prep, trends well.
• Cons: no size, no morphology.
Direct Read Ferrography
Direct read ferrography involves an oil
sample diluted in solvent that flows
through a tube over a powerful mag-
net. Larger ferrous particles attract to
the magnet when they first approach
the magnet, while smaller particles
settle out further down the line. Photo
detectors measure the amount of light
blocked to give the density of large or
 small particles. This results in a unit-
less value called Density Large or DL
and Density Small or DS. These are
used to calculate:
• DL: Large particles >5 μm
• DS: Small particles <5 μm
• WPC: DL+ DS wear particle count
• PLP: DL/DS percentage large particles
• WSI: DL-DS wear severity index.
• Pros: easy; trends well; more infor-
mation; two size classes; as with fer-
rous Index, it trends well but only
to itself, as it gives unit-less values.
• Cons: relatively expensive, no mor-
phology, limited composition.
5. ADVANCED ANALYSIS
Analytical Ferrography
This involves visual inspection of de-
bris on a slide. Analytical ferrography
form different letters and words. Words were based on phonetic sounds rather than the actual spellings.
uses the same idea as direct read—pass-
ing oil over a magnet except that a slide
is used instead of a tube (see Figure 2).
Instead of detectors, the slide is placed
under a microscope and viewed manu-
ally. It is best used as follow-up when
trends identify a change. It can diag-
nose root cause and predict failure.
• Pros: a powerful diagnostic tool,
relatively better morphology, some
composition.
• Cons: time intensive, requires high-
ly trained tech, expensive.
Filter Patch—Optical Microscopy
Inspection
Another simpler way to visually in-
spect particles under a microscope
is the patch test. The debris on the
membrane is looked at under a micro-
scope. While this isn’t as in-depth as
analytical ferrography, this simple test
can sometimes be all that is necessary.
Particle analysis can be used to
improve oil cleanliness, in-plant
lubrication programs and even
research to develop more
efficient filters.
This certainly helps guide investiga-
tion to the source.
• Pros: simple.
• Cons: not as in-depth as other tests.
Automatic Optical Microscopy
This takes the same membrane and au-
tomatically inspects every particle with
a microscope. A membrane is placed
under the microscope, computer soft-
ware is used to define the area under
Figure 3 | SEM-EDX
particle classification/
measurement results.
39
 FLUID PART/FILTER

Ultrasonic Pressure Wash

Glass Slide Membrane

Light Direct Read (DR) Analytical Automatic Optical

Gravimetric SEM-EDX
Extinction Ferrography Ferrography Microscopy

Analyzes all particles Only analyzes sŝƐƵĂůŝŶƐƉĞĐƚŝŽŶŽĨ dŽƚĂůĂŵŽƵŶƚŽĨ Analyzes all particles Analyzes all particles
шϰƵŵ ĨĞƌƌŽƵƐƉĂƌƚŝĐůĞƐ ĚĞďƌŝƐŽŶƐůŝĚĞ ĚĞďƌŝƐďLJǁĞŝŐŚƚ ŐƌĞĂƚĞƌƚŚĂŶϭ͘ϱƚŝŵĞƐ ŐƌĞĂƚĞƌƚŚĂŶϭ͘ϱƚŝŵĞƐ
above filter pore size filter pore size filter pore size
Size classes by Two size classes, Only particles of
͞ƐƚŝŵĂƚĞĚŝƌĐƵůĂƌ ƐŵĂůů;чϱƵŵͿ interest ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ EŽƉĂƌƚŝĐůĞƐŝnjŝŶŐ ƵƐƚŽŵŝnjĂďůĞsize ƵƐƚŽŵŝnjĂďůĞƐŝnjĞ
ŝĂŵĞƚĞƌ͟ ĂŶĚůĂƌŐĞ;хϱƵŵͿ classes classes

NŽŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ EŽŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ ^ŽŵĞŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ EŽŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ ĞƚĂŝůĞĚŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ ĞƚĂŝůĞĚŵŽƌƉŚŽůŽŐLJ

EŽĐŽŵƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ >ŝŵŝƚĞĚĐŽŵƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ >ŝŵŝƚĞĚĐŽŵƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ EŽĐŽŵƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ Reflective or &ƵůůĞůĞŵĞŶƚĂůĂŶĂůLJƐŝƐ

non-reflective ĨŽƌĞĂĐŚƉĂƌƚŝĐůĞ

Figure 4 | Particle analysis test overview.

examination and thresholds are set.
Then the microscope goes frame by
frame and measures and classifies each
particle on multiple axes.
• Pros: customizable sizes, detailed
morphology, flexible, large particles.
• Cons: expensive equipment, re-
quires skilled technician.
SEM-EDX
This involves a complete inspection of
particles. A scanning electron micro-
scope (SEM) produces images by us-
ing electrons instead of light and glass
lenses, allowing for clear images and
much higher magnifications. A beam
of electrons travels down a column to-
ward the sample. As the beam scans the
surface, electrons within the sample are
ejected. These are collected by detec-
tors and converted into a digital image.
Many parameters can be measured and
classified: maximum diameter, mini-
mum diameter (useful when testing
filtration), area, perimeter of each par-
ticle, etc. Full elemental analysis on
each particle then can be performed us-
ing EDS-XRF (see Figure 3 on Page 39).
• Pros: customizable size classes, de-
tailed morphology, full elemental
analysis, images of each particle.
• Cons: expensive equipment, re-
quires highly trained tech, can be
too much data.
To sum all of this up:
Considerations for particle analysis
include:
• Do standards need to be met?
• The cost of the equipment, supplies,
personnel.
• In-house or outside lab?
• Is expertise required?
• Are there special requirements (i.e.,
water)?
Sources for help with particle analy-
sis test decisions (see Figure 4) include:
• OEMs
• Equipment manuals
• Filtration suppliers
• Lubricant suppliers
• Testing equipment suppliers
• Third party labs
• Internet: peers, blogs, videos
• Trade organizations such as STLE
conferences, workshops, magazines,
webinars.
The best approach is to do the
homework upfront, particularly if the
decision involves purchase of new
equipment.
Jeanna Van Rensselar heads
her own communication/
public relations firm, Smart
PR Communications, in
Naperville, Ill. You can reach
her at jeanna@smartprcommunications.com.

40 The French army deemed Barbier’s system too complex to be feasible.

 Technical Education. Career Development.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Jeanna Van Rensselar / Senior Feature Writer

Implementing an
oil analysis program
42 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG
 Vibration analysis,
thermography,
ultrasound—the
best results come
when you combine
technologies.

C ost-effective, comprehensive and proven, oil

analysis is an extremely powerful condition monitoring tool.
Those skeptical of its benefits are likely not fully or correctly
leveraging its awesome range of capabilities.
Getting the most from oil analysis starts with setting up
the program correctly and continues with thorough follow
up. For some organizations, it makes sense to bring in expert
help in the form of reliability consultants who will initiate
KEY CONCEPTS
and manage the program.
• For most machinery, there David B. Doyle, CLS, OMA I, OMA II, general manager
of ALS Tribology, says, “Acquiring data without having a
is no more
more cost-effective
coost e ect ve
process to organize and follow up with the information can
way too determine
d t rminee the
lead to confusion and frustration for users. The challenge
health of both the today is taking the data that historically has been generated
equipment and the fluid and report it in such a way that it provides more value for
than oil analysis. the user. Reporting data without a process for follow up and
ownership limits the value that is available from using these
• Organizations that don’t
do t condition monitoring tools.”
al dy have ann oill
already
analysis
alysis program in
in place
l e OA BENEFITS
can set one up with a few
w According to RCL platform leader for Allied Reliability Matt
Spurlock, oil analysis is the one technology that can actu-
simple
l steps.
t s.
ally monitor equipment health proactively—before damage
• The success
s s of your
yo r oil occurs. This includes the ability to monitor the presence
of solid contaminants, moisture and lubricant health. “In
analysis program depends
© Can Stock Photo / bajita1111

addition to working in the proactive zone, oil analysis is an

on oversight and follow
foollow
o excellent tool to use within the predictive zone,” he explains.
through. “When sampled from the correct location, following best
practice sampling procedures and utilizing a comprehensive

W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 43

 approach to sample testing, oil analysis
can determine the presence of wear de-
bris very high on the P-F curve.”1
One of the benefits that oil analysis
has over most other condition monitor-
ing tools is it detects problems in both
the fluid and the machine. In addition,
it may detect defects earlier than other
technologies such as thermography and
ultrasound. For this reason, oil analysis
is usually the first line of defense.
Among the many benefits of oil
analysis are:
Longer equipment life. Oil analysis
ensures machinery is being optimally
lubricated while also monitoring issues
such as wear and contamination. Wear
particle analysis—the cornerstone of
oil analysis—is amazingly effective
at flagging and predicting problems
before they start to negatively affect
equipment life.
Extend lubricant life. Oil analysis
yields a clear picture of the condition
of the lubricant so that it never has to
be changed prematurely. This can, in
some cases, more than double the filter
change and drain intervals. Eliminating
even one oil change a year saves money
in material and labor time.
Reduce equipment downtime. Oil
analysis gives maintenance personnel
the opportunity to detect and correct
issues before they cause equipment
shutdown. On-the-road breakdowns,
in particular, are expensive. The cost
of oil analysis pales in comparison.
Monitor viscosity and acidity. Know-
ing the oil’s viscosity means knowing
if it is adequately lubricating the parts.
The Base Number (BN) and Acid Num-
ber (AN) on the oil analysis report will
indicate if the oil is still protecting the
machinery.
Boost resale value. Nothing says the
equipment has been taken care of bet-
ter than a series of reports demonstrat-
ing regular oil analysis.
Oil analysis is not just about saving
money, it’s also about reducing head-
aches and having the assurance there
will not be any serious disruptions in
operations due to equipment failure.
“Analysis of in-service lubricants
detects a wide variety of failure modes,”
Doyle says. “This can include damaged
components, severe operating condi-
tions, lack of proper maintenance, lack
of proper lubrication or lubricant deg-
radation and contamination. Different
types of equipment have specific failure
modes that reflect equipment design
and metallurgy that oil analysis diag-
nostics staff are trained to recognize.
Test parameters can give indications as
to the root cause. Other times the test
data will pick up the symptom of the
failure mode, which requires further in-
spection. Many times the value of the
test data can be increased 10 fold after
discussion between the end-user or as-
set manager and the testing laboratory.”
INSTITUTING AN OA PROGRAM
Most people don’t need convincing that
oil analysis is beneficial. However, the
prospect of setting up a comprehensive
oil analysis program can seem daunting.
Following are a few steps that, if sequen-
tially adhered to, will ensure the program
is set up and then functioning correctly.

HOW TO SELECT A LAB 2

Assuming that an in-house testing facility is not an option (most small to

mid-sized companies won’t find this feasible), customers need to select the
best lab to test their samples. Here are a few considerations:

• Is the lab ISO 17025 accredited?

• Do tests conform to ASTM standards?
• Are lab employees appropriately educated and/or certified?
• During what days and hours is the lab available?
• How many locations does the lab have?
• Can the lab handle your sample volume?
• What are the report delivery and format options?
• What kind of guidance/technical support can you expect?
• Does the lab have the latest equipment and technology?
• How many test methods are available—a full menu or just a few?
• How well does the lab interpret data (ask to see a sample report)?
• What is the turnaround time for results?
• What kind of training programs does the lab offer?
© Can Stock Photo / morenosoppelsa

• What are the costs per test, and what is/is not included?
• What guarantees does the lab offer?
• Is test selection pre-set (per industry and component type) but
also flexible?

44 In 1824, at age 15, Braille reduced Barbier’s 12 dots to six smaller ones and made a column of uniform
 1. Select an oil analysis lab. This is
a good first step because the lab can
provide advice on setting up the rest
of the program (see How to Select a
Lab). Look for an established lab with
a demonstrable quality assurance pro-
gram and industry accreditations such
as ISO 17025 or 10CFR50. If possible,
it’s always a good idea to visit the lab
before committing. In fact, the labora-
tory’s proximity can itself be an advan-
tage since it allows more timely deliv-
ery of samples—especially important
in emergency situations—which the
new oil analysis program will hope-
fully eliminate.
2. Articulate goals. The program’s
structure and foundation should be
based on sound reliability engineering
goals that create a roadmap for design-
ing and implementing the program.
The oil analysis lab can help here, but
it is ultimately up to the end-user to
align the program with the organiza-
tion’s reliability needs. Following are a
few suggestions for goals:
THE
CRITICALITY
INDEX 3
CHOOSING
MACHINERY
TO MONITOR
size to fit each letter. Thus, each letter could be read with a single touch, making the process much faster.
• Improve reliability by avoiding
breakdowns and extending life
(both the machinery and
its parts)
• Flag and eliminate recurring
problems
• Eliminate most unscheduled
maintenance
• Maximize lubricant life and
performance
• Support comprehensive proactive
and predictive maintenance.
Once these goals are established, it’s
time to choose a program champion/
key contact.
3. Create an equipment list. Establish
a list of equipment to be sampled. Pri-
oritize based on equipment criticality
and allow for adjustment as the pro-
gram continues (see The Criticality
Index—Choosing Machinery to Moni-
tor). This list should include at least
the following:
The Criticality Index determines the logical
extent of condition monitoring required
for a piece of equipment. It takes into ac-
count such factors as:
• Importance of the machine’s
function
• Whether or not there is another
piece of equipment that can take
over the function if that piece of
machinery fails
• The overall impact of downtime
• The projected repair cost.
This index assigns all machines to one of
the following three categories:
1. Critical machinery. These machines
are so important that the rest of the
operating environment cannot function
without them, (i.e., power plant turbines).
Equipment in this category requires
• Equipment identification (a ge-
neric description along with serial
number)
• Component type, make and model
• Required lubricant brand and
grade often designated by the
OEM
• Oil reservoir capacity
• Filter type and rating
• Sampling frequency.
Equipment critical to plant opera-
tions should be identified first. Appro-
priate oil analysis for critical equipment
includes wear metal analysis, moisture
content, viscosity, acid number, particle
count and analytical ferrography.
4. Devise the sampling strategy. While
the oil analysis lab can advise, the end-
user is the ultimate decider. This strat-
egy will include sampling locations,
method and procedure.
The procedure component of the
strategy is where most programs fall
complete online and (where possible)
inline condition monitoring—regardless of
cost. The specifics of monitoring are often
included in insurance policies and warran-
ties. This equipment is a prime candidate
for predictive maintenance.
2. Essential machinery. This equip-
ment is key to the operating environment,
but its failure does not cripple operations.
Sometimes equipment that falls into this
category would be considered critical if
not for the fact that a backup piece of
equipment is readily available. While test-
ing is not as important as it is with critical
machinery, it is recommended in order to
prevent costly repairs and inconvenience.
3. General purpose machinery. The
balance of operations equipment falls into
this category. These machines are usually
monitored informally and periodically.
45
apart. Oil analysis labs receive the vast
majority of samples with information
that is incomplete—making it very
difficult for end-users to get the most
from the report. This is where the pro-
gram champion comes in. It is this per-
son’s job to ensure that each sample is
correctly labeled when it arrives at the
laboratory.
“A key to achieving maximum ROI
from oil analysis is to ensure the labo-
ratory has all the required informa-
tion regarding the equipment being
sampled,” Spurlock says. “When going
to the doctor for a blood test, we are
asked questions such as age and health
history in order to assure the correct
test state. Just as in misdiagnosing a
human, failure to provide the needed
information for a machine also will re-
sult in a misdiagnosis.”
5. Establish performance metrics. Met-
rics always lead to accountability, so cre-
ate metrics tied to the program’s origi-
nal goals. For example, are there fewer
breakdowns? Is there a reduction in re-
curring problems? Is there less unsched-
uled maintenance? Are drain intervals
being extended? Be sure to account for
anomalies and other factors that will af-
fect the accuracy of the metrics.
If all of this seems a little over-
whelming, there are reliability service
providers that are more than qualified
to set up and administer the program.
More about this later. The bottom line
is that setting up an oil analysis pro-
gram requires careful consideration,
planning and—perhaps most impor-
tant—consistency and thorough follow
through in order to be successful.
INTEGRATING OIL ANALYSIS
WITH OTHER TECHNOLOGIES
Adding other condition monitoring
technologies to oil analysis has a syn-
ergistic affect when it comes to diag-
nosing machinery. These technologies
range from high-tech ultrasound to
decidedly low-tech visual inspection
by an expert.
Spurlock explains, “The days of sug-
gesting one technology is ‘better’ than
the other are long passed. A reliability-
46 • FEBRUARY 2018
centered approach to predictive and
proactive technologies that includes
the optimized utilization of each tech-
nology will always yield higher ROI
than relying just on a single technology.
Vibration, infrared, oil analysis, etc.,
each focus on specific failure modes for
each component type. While some of
these failure modes are repeated across
technologies, the degree in which de-
tection can occur and be pinpointed
will always vary. The best approach is
to incorporate failure mode mapping
against each technology.”
VIBRATION ANALYSIS
Vibration analysis is a key condition
monitoring tool for rotating equip-
ment. It excels at precisely detecting
impending failures in high-speed bear-
ing systems. As components reach the
end of their life, they begin to vibrate
more dramatically and distinctly. Ongo-
ing vibration analysis flags these signs
before significant damage occurs. Com-
mon failure modes that vibration analy-
sis detects include:
• Imbalance
• Misalignment
• Cavitation
• Cracked/broken gear teeth
• Looseness—both in chains and
structural
• Gear wear
• Rolling element bearing defects
• Resonance
• Bent shafts
• Multiple bearing issues
• Sheave run-out
• Electrical issues
• Fluid and airflow issues.
Oil analysis and vibration analysis
complement each other almost perfect-
ly: oil analysis monitors and controls
lubricant quality and contamination;
vibration analysis monitors and con-
trols balance, looseness and alignment.
In fleet industries, oil analysis is
the primary technology because diesel
engines predominate. In industrial ap-
plications, especially power generation
and petrochemical, vibration analysis
is the technology of choice. In general,
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
industrial applications such as primary
metals, pulp and paper, etc., use both
methods together.
THERMOGRAPHY
The idea behind thermography is that
an increase in heat indicates failing
components. Thermography detects
heat patterns and measures the tem-
perature of electrical and mechanical
components. The areas it identifies can
indicate electrical resistance or excess
friction. It also is ideal for identifying
heat loss. Additionally, thermography
can uncover problems with moisture,
thickness, bonding, capacitance and
friction. Thermography will pick up
anomalies in motors, couplings, bear-
ings, belts and sheaves, steam traps,
heat exchangers and electrical systems/
components.
Thermography detects issues that
oil analysis can’t, such as the condition
of rollers, the level of deposit build-up
in storage tanks and the condition of
high-speed bearings and couplings.
ULTRASOUND
Ultrasound is defined by high-frequen-
cy sound waves above 20 kilohertz
(kHz) and up to 300 kHz and is one of
the more flexible condition monitoring
technologies. It is commonly used for
leak detection (compressed gas) and
mechanical and electrical inspections.
For the latter, ultrasound can be used
as a safety tool to identify arcing, track-
ing and corona.
Ultrasound relies on digital meters
that measure high frequency signals
and display the results in decibels per
microvolt. Trending values point to po-
tential defects caused by contact such
as rubbing and friction. Ultrasound
complements vibration analysis (which
complements oil analysis) well.
SENSORS
Embedding condition monitoring sen-
sors in machinery is becoming com-
monplace. “The growth in the Indus-
trial Internet of Things (IIoT) as it
relates to online real data monitoring
is expected to be huge in the coming
years,” Spurlock says. “Sensors have Î Î Î Î Î
W W W. ST L E .O RG
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ÎÎÎÎÎ been around for over a decade but have
been cost prohibitive until just recently.
Imagine a suite of sensors that moni-
tors vibration data, oil health, contami-
nation and wear debris. These sensors
constantly send data to the cloud where
machine learning algorithms allow for
dynamic alarms to be in place in order
to immediately identify when a condi-
tion is changed along with a relevant
corrective action recommendation.
That day is here.”
He continues, “Oil analysis technol-
ogy has been severely commoditized
over the years. There is fierce compe-
tition within the laboratory world for
end-user sampling dollars. In addition,
oil analysis seems to be one of the most
misunderstood tools of condition mon-
itoring. The idea of inline monitoring
should help to alleviate both of these is-
sues and bring to light the true benefits
of comprehensive condition monitoring
and multi-technology integration.”
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
This is a basic but often neglected step.
It involves comparing actual operating
statistics with the manufacturer’s origi-
nal parameters—usually posted on the
machine’s nameplate. These statistics
also are available in the equipment man-
ual, online or via the manufacturer’s rep.
Combined with oil analysis, supple-
mental condition monitoring methods
will be able to detect the vast majority
of equipment issues—hopefully before
they affect operations. If one method
detects an anomaly, experts recom-
mend employing a second technology
for confirmation.
CASE STUDY: KAPSTONE PAPER
Industry leader KapStone Paper, located
in Longview, Wash., produces a wide
spectrum of kraft and recycled products
ranging from containerboard, including
liner and medium, to kraft papers, satu-
rating kraft and folding carton board. It
is a shining example of a company that
makes full and effective use of integrat-
ed condition monitoring technologies.
KapStone leverages oil analysis, micro-
scopic analysis, vibration analysis, ultra-
sonic and thermal imaging.
48 To create his own raised-dot system, Braille used an awl, the same tool that had blinded him as a child.
Jeffrey H. DesArmo, KapStone’s lu-
brication manager, says, “At KapStone
Paper, we have integrated several dif-
ferent technologies into our predictive
maintenance program to help increase
our uptime and reduce the number of
failures we have.
“The benefits of oil analysis are
many, and the ability to integrate other
predictive maintenance technologies
throughout our mill benefits us a great
deal and provides for a more thorough
and accurate diagnosis of equipment is-
sues,” DesArmo adds. “We work with
Nothing says the equipment has
been taken care of better than a
series of reports demonstrating
regular oil analysis.
our vibration department on a daily ba-
sis sharing equipment related concerns
as they are identified.”4
Out-of-spec oil reports are shared
between the two crews, which review
the historical oil and vibration data.
The equipment may be re-sampled
as needed and closely monitored for
change. When the vibration group re-
ports a motor that is noisy or has a high
frequency event on a bearing and asks
for lubrication, a lubrication specialist
uses the UE systems ultrasonic meter to
ensure that the right amount of grease
is inserted to the bearing. Thermal im-
aging helps find hot spots and allows
for the location of potential problems
in larger, more complex systems.
DesArmo says, “Microscopic analy-
sis is an effective method of identifying
wear debris, as it allows us to see what
type of particles are being generated
in the oil, accurately count the par-
ticle numbers and examine their size
and shape, which allows us to more
accurately assess the machinery and
the condition of the oil. We can have
results as quickly as an hour after a
sample is brought in.”
A good example of the benefits of
integrated analysis at KapStone was an
oil sample that came back OK—but
the vibration department subsequently
picked up a high gear mesh on a roll-
mounted gearbox. Temperatures were
up on the gearbox, and the motor
was drawing high amps to keep run-
ning. “After performing a microscopic
analysis of the oil, I noticed there was
wear material in the oil going to the
gearbox,” DesArmo says. “The wear
material was coming from the pump
that was feeding the gearbox from a
larger oil reservoir and was not pump-
ing properly. The pump was failing, and
with the finding we were able to switch
over to a backup pump and replace the
failing pump on our time. The cost of
the possible failure of a gearbox and
downtime associated would have been
in excess of $300,000.”
In situations where an oil sample
cannot be taken during normal oper-
ating conditions, thermography and
vibration analysis provide data without
requiring downtime or interruption to
operations. They also provide a picture
of what is happening during actual op-
erating conditions.
According to Doyle, in situations
where an oil sample cannot be taken
during normal operating conditions,
thermography and vibration analysis
provide data without requiring down-
time or interruption to operations.
They also provide a picture of what
is happening during actual operating
conditions. In addition to thermog-
raphy and vibration analysis, ultra-
sonic analysis provides information
on structural deficiencies before larger
problems occur, which would not nec-
essarily be picked up by oil analysis.
The composition of gases generated in
emission and effluent processing also
can provide unique information regard-
ing asset operating health.
Allied Reliability’s Spurlock has
been working with KapStone. He ex-
plains that in addition to sending
samples to an outside laboratory on
a regular basis, KapStone purchased
equipment to make patches and view
them through a microscope onsite.
 “This gives KapStone a very early
indication of any potential severe con-
dition,” Spurlock says. “Through this
process, the lubrication supervisor pre-
pares patches from oiled and greased
components for review. On more than
one occasion, they noted abnormal wear
particles on the patch and were able to
notify the vibration group for further
review. In each instance, the vibration
group confirmed the presence of a prob-
lem, although the vibration data had yet
to reach a level of alarm. This allows the
facility ample time to plan and schedule
needed corrective action or overall com-
ponent replacement.”
DesArmo explains that KapStone
chooses to integrate predictive technol-
ogies for several reasons but primarily
because of the amount of uptime and
reliability they gain.
“Then there is the understanding of
other disciplines and how they work,”
he says. “Tying all of the technologies
together, we find that we work better
together than if each department is on
its own trying to increase reliability, not
knowing what the other is up to.”
CMaaS
Monitoring the health of critical ma-
chinery is an important component of
an operational excellence strategy. Reli-
ability services providers offer a menu
of options that can include mainte-
nance, reliability and operational con-
sulting and services, training and staff-
ing. They also implement and integrate
oil analysis programs.
Condition monitoring as a service
(dubbed CMaaS) includes a collection
of components, solutions and support
designed to extend equipment life and
increase profitability. CMaaS reduces
the effort to collect inspection data
and integrate it into a single analyzable
format. With inspection data stored in
a central system, the integration of re-
liability engineering, condition-based
maintenance, reporting, etc., enables an
environment where vendors, contrac-
tors and internal personnel can col-
laborate. This improves the competi-
tiveness of production facilities, raises
product quality, increases uptime and
W W W. ST L E .O RG
production capacity and ultimately
lowers costs.
The following is some of what to
expect from a CMaaS provider:
Maintenance strategy review. This
process ensures the customer is per-
forming the correct maintenance on
the right equipment at the optimal time
and with the best resources. Ultimate
goals include:
• Aligning maintenance efforts to
business needs
• Reducing equipment damage and
losses
• Increasing availability and reliability
• Reducing overall maintenance costs
in a sustainable manner.
Planned maintenance routines. The
reliability services provider will con-
figure, support and deploy a planned
maintenance routine. Benefits include
increased resource productivity, greater
reliability and uptime improvement, and
a greater likelihood of meeting produc-
tion targets and business goals. Effective
planning and scheduling result in an ef-
ficient planned maintenance routine.
Work planning and scheduling. Plan-
ning and scheduling daily maintenance
is a vital part of every industrial manu-
facturing operation. Well-structured,
up-to-date planning will reduce costs
and have a positive impact on safety
and environmental programs by fore-
stalling unexpected events.
Reliability, availability and maintain-
ability. This provides an integrated anal-
ysis of expected system performance
based on system design, operations and
maintenance. It is a key component of
lifecycle cost and asset management
programs.
Risk-based inspection. This involves
defining appropriate inspection tech-
niques, and frequency is based on
damage consequences and probability
of failure. Examining risks enables op-
timum inspection programs.
Root cause analysis. This identifies
the root cause of failure and identifies
actions that will prevent recurrence.
The process investigates three failure
causes: (1.) physical or technical, (2.)
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
human errors and (3.) organizational
systems—operating procedures and
decision making.
So for most equipment, oil analysis
will be the most cost-effective method of
determining the health of the equipment
and the fluid. Oil analysis becomes ex-
ponentially more effective when teamed
with complementary technology such as
thermography or vibration analysis. Or-
ganizations that don’t already have an
oil analysis program in place can either
set one up with a few simple steps or
opt for a reliability services provider that
will design and administer the program
for them.
“Oil analysis, thermography and
vibration analysis are each condition
monitoring tools that, when used in
combination, can provide a fuller pic-
ture of an asset’s current health,” Doyle
says. “The challenge in applying these
various tools is to be able to combine
the information in such a way that one
data complements the others and is
easily understood by the end-user and
asset manager.”
Jeanna Van Rensselar
heads her own communication/
public relations firm,
Smart PR Communications, in
Naperville, Ill. You can reach her
at jeanna@smartprcommunications.com.
REFERENCES
1. The P-F curve represents the
gradual loss of function. For a
complete explanation of the term,
see the video PF Curve 101 – Keep-
ing it simple at http://maintenance-
phoenix.com/2013/10/02/pf-curve-
101-keeping-it-simple.
2. Van Rensselar, J. (2012), “Maxi-
mizing the benefits of fluid analy-
sis,” TLT, 68 (7), pp. 30-39.
3. Van Rensselar, J. (2011), “Vibra-
tion analysis: The other half of the
equation,” TLT, 67 (8), pp. 38-48.
4. Kyle Newton, maintenance
supervisor vibration department,
KapStone Paper, collaborated with
Jeffrey H. DesArmo on informa-
tion presented in this article.
FEBRUARY 2018 • 49
2016 TFC HIGHLIGHTS

For the benefit of our readers involved in tribology research, TLT is

publishing abstracts of the best papers presented at the 2016 Tribology
Frontiers Conference. Registration for the 2018 TFC opens in May. Until
then, you can find 2018 updates and program information at www.stle.org. Co-sponsored by ASME Tribology Division.

The effect of coating thickness and substrate

roughness on tool wear during turning
M. Bar-Hen a, I. Etsion b
a
R&D Tool Division, Turning Department, Iscar LTD, Tefen 2495900, Israel
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel

The effect of coating thickness and substrate roughness on
the tool wear in turning was studied experimentally. TiAlN
coating of various thicknesses was applied on tungsten car-
bide (WC) tool substrate having various surface roughnesses.
The tool wear was measured following fixed cutting distance
and speed tests. In general, when plotting the wear vs. coat-
ing thickness alone or vs. substrate roughness alone, a trend
of decreasing wear with either increasing coating thickness
or substrate roughness was observed. However, the scatter
of the results was very large. On the other hand, excellent
fit was obtained when the wear results were plotted vs. the
dimensionless ratio t/Rsu where t is the coating thickness and
Rsu is the average radius of curvature of the rough substrate
asperities. An interesting correlation was shown between the
experimental results and some theoretical models for yield
inception of a coated spherical asperity.

Cutting tool flank wear.

50 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

 nts
elopme
a ll r e c ent dev it ies and
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PEER-REVIEWED

Examination of the Axial Shape

of the Automotive Valvetrain Cam for
Engine Friction Reduction
Y. Mabuchia, T. Yamashitaa, H. Izumib, T. Sekikawac, K. Nishimurad, S. Hiranoe, and Y. Moriguchib
a
Materials Engineering Department, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Atsugi, Japan; bEngine and Transmission Engineering Department, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.,
Atsugi, Japan; cPowertrain Technology and Prototype Development Department, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Atsugi, Japan; dProduction Control and
Engineering Department, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Atsugi, Japan; ePowertrain Planning Department, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Atsugi, Japan

Received July 12, 2016
Accepted Nov. 11, 2016
Review led by Gary Barber
© STLE
Editor’s Note: In
automotive engines, the
valvetrain accounts for
a significant portion of
the total frictional losses.
Previous work has shown
that smoothing the sliding
surfaces of a valvetrain
leads to a significant
reduction in friction. This
month’s Editor’s Choice
paper investigates the
addition of other variables
in the form of varying
cross-sectional shapes of
the cams and the use of a
friction modifier. While the
roughness and shape were
found to act independent-
ly, the use of an additive
had a predictably greater
effect.
Evan Zabawski, CLS
Editor
ABSTRACT
Friction tests were conducted with a direct-acting automotive valvetrain to evaluate the effect of the
axial cross-sectional shape of the cam on friction using various cam shapes from concave to convex.
The results revealed that friction levels could be understood as a function of the contact ratio between
the cam and mating valve lifter regardless of the cam cross-sectional shape. A flat shape with a high
contact ratio was found to have the lowest level of friction. Compared to a convex-shaped cam of
the same height, a concave cam tended to show higher friction because of the lower contact ratio
with the valve lifter. The results of finite element method (FEM) calculations also showed that the
higher contact pressure of concave cams in the contact area was a factor that caused greater friction.
KEY WORDS
Engine; friction; cam; roughness; MoDTC
INTRODUCTION
Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles is an important issue, and one
method of accomplishing it is to reduce the mechanical losses of the engine. A schematic
of a direct-acting valvetrain system in which the camshaft directly drives the intake/exhaust
valves is shown in Figure 1. This valvetrain system consists of intake/exhaust valves; intake/
exhaust cams; valve lifters, which convert the rotary motion of the cams into the opening/
closing motion of the valves; intake/exhaust valve springs; cotters to fix the valves to their
retainers; retainers to fix the valve springs to the valves; cam brackets to fix the cams to
the cylinder heads; valve seats to seal in the combustion gas; and valve guides for the valve
bearings. Valvetrain friction accounts for approximately 25% of the mechanical losses of the
engine at an ordinary crankshaft rotational speed of 2,000 rpm (Shimada, et al. (1)). Reducing
valvetrain friction is effective in improving fuel economy. A breakdown of valvetrain friction
indicates that friction between the cam and valve lifter—that is, mechanical tappet—represents
a large portion (approximately 80%) of the total (Calabretta, et al. (2)). Consequently, friction
between these two parts accounts for approximately 20% of the overall mechanical losses of
the engine. The sliding interface between the cam and valve lifter is one of the places that has
the highest contact pressure among engine parts. Moreover, because of the reciprocal motion
that includes a pivot point, the lubrication regime at the interface is in the region of what is
called mixed to boundary lubrication where interference occurs between part surface asperi-
ties that exceed the thickness of the oil film that forms between the two surfaces (Beloiu (3)).
Measures that are effective in reducing friction under this type of lubrication regime include
(1) smoothing the sliding part surfaces, (2) applying a solid lubricant to the sliding part sur-

52 Braille also designed an ergonomic interface for using the awl based on Barbier’s slate and stylus tools. By soldering

Figure 1 | Automotive engine valvetrain.
faces, and (3) suppressing metal-tometal contact by forming a
thicker oil film between the two sliding part surfaces.
Smoothing sliding surfaces is a technique that has long
been used to reduce friction and its application to the cam
has been reported by Kato and Yasuda (4) and Mabuchi, et al.
(5). Kato and Yasuda (4) reduced the surface roughness of the
cam lobe and valve lifter crown by polishing the surfaces with
abrasive grains after machining them with a grinding wheel.
Using the resultant samples, friction was then evaluated in
engine tests and the results showed that smoothing the part
surfaces was effective in reducing friction. They reported that
the combination of a smoothed cam and valve lifter had the
effect of reducing valvetrain friction by as much as 40%.
Other approaches have also been applied in addition to
smoothing the cam and valve lifter for the purpose of reducing
direct contact points exceeding the oil film thickness between
the two surfaces. One method of reducing the friction coef-
ficient between contact points is to apply a coating in which a
solid lubricant such as molybdenum dithiophosphate (MoS2)
is dispersed in a resin. Another method applied for the same
purpose is to make use of a low-shear-strength film formed
two metal strips across the slate, he created a secure area for the stylus that kept the lines straight and readable.
on the part surfaces by a chemical reaction with a friction
modifier added to the engine oil. Even under nonlubricated
condition, the MoS2-dispersed coating shows a low friction
coefficient equal to that of a lubricated state, in addition to
displaying a low friction coefficient under lubricated condi-
tion. Application of this coating leads to a reduction in fric-
tion between a lubricated cam and valve lifter (Yasuda, et al.
(6)). Molybdenum dithiocarbamate (MoDTC), which forms
MoS2 in a reaction with metal, is widely used as a friction
modifier additive in lowviscosity fuel-saving engine oil. It has
been reported to be effective in reducing valvetrain friction
(Mabuchi, et al. (7); Ohmori and Hattori (8)).
Studies have been reported in which the cross-sectional
shape of the cam was investigated for the purpose of reducing
friction (Takahashi, et al. (9); Miyanaka, et al. (10)). However,
there are no examples of studies in which the cross-sectional
shapes of the cam and valve lifter crown and their surface
roughness were investigated in detail with regard to their re-
lationship to the lubricating oil.
The cam surface is usually machined on a cam grinder
using a grinding wheel, which ensures straightness on a sub-
micrometer order. In order to finish a complex cam shape to
a mirrorlike state with surface roughness of Ra = 0.1 +m or
less, a polishing film with abrasive grains is used instead of
a grinding wheel. When finish machining a cam with a pol-
ishing film, polishing is sometimes performed by oscillating
the film perpendicularly in the machining direction (Katoh
and Yasuda (4)). This process efficiently removes the convex
portions of the machining marks left by the grinding wheel
in the normal direction relative to the polishing direction.
However, in this process, sharp edges are created between
the nonmachined side faces and the machined face; abrasive
grains at places where the polishing film rubs against these
sharp edges are apt to fall out. In contrast, abrasive grains in
places where the film rubs against the center of the cam tend
not to fall out and polishing proceeds stably. As a result, the
stock removal rate by polishing is higher in the center of the
cam than at the edges. This tends to produce a cross-sectional
cam shape where the center portion has a concave profile,
as shown in the schematic diagram on the left-hand side of
Figure 2. The photograph on the right-hand side of the figure
shows the peeled condition of a diamond-like carbon (DLC)
Figure 2 | Schematic diagram
showing contact state between
concave-shaped cam and
DLC-coated valve lifter shim
and peeling of DLC coating on
shim due to sliding contact
with the cam.
53
coating caused by contact with the edges of such a cam in a
sliding test. This DLC coating was intentionally formed on the
valve lifter crown with a low level of adhesion and mated with
a concave-shaped cam. As indicated in this example, if the
ideal cross-sectional shape cannot be imparted to the cam, the
expected friction reduction might not be fully obtained due
to contact with the valve lifter, even though the cam surface
roughness is improved.
Therefore, in this study, the effect of the cam cross-section-
al shape on friction was investigated in connection with the
smoothening of the cam surface that is effective in reducing
friction. Cam cross-sectional shapes were evaluated in com-
bination with various shapes of the valve lifter crown and a
fuelsaving engine oil containing an MoDTC friction modifier
possessing the properties of a solid lubricant. The aim was to
identify their respective effects on friction in order to make
clear an effective guideline for reducing valvetrain friction.
SAMPLES AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Samples
In order to investigate the effects of the cam cross-section-
al shape and surface roughness on valvetrain friction, tests
were conducted on actual engine cams made of chilled gray
cast iron. Cam test samples were prepared with the specified
crosssectional shapes and surface roughnesses by varying the
conditions of the final finish machining process. Specifically,
the cam cross-sectional shape was varied by changing the
surface geometry of the resin pad that pressed the polishing
film against the cam in the polishing process. That changed
the curvature of the cam cross-sectional shape to produce the
specified convex and concave shapes. The samples were fin-
ished to the specified surface roughness levels by varying the
size of the abrasive grains bonded to the polishing film used
in the final finishing process. Because the hardening depth of
the chilled cast iron at the cam nose was over 2 mm, the dif-
ference in the cross-sectional shape of the cam did not affect
the surface hardness. Friction tests were conducted using the
intake-side camshafts of two types of Nissan engine (VQ30DE
and HR15DE). Cam durability tests were conducted with the
V6 VQ30DE engine in which all four camshafts on the intake
and exhaust sides of both banks were used to make simulta-
neous evaluations.
The valve lifters mating with the cams in the friction evalu-
ations were mass-produced parts made of JIS-SCr420 carbu-
rized steel with an outer diameter of 34 mm. A chromium
nitride (CrN) coating was formed on the valve lifter crown in
a physical vapor deposition process. The surface of the valve
lifters used in the cam durability evaluations was hardened
by nitriding. Table 1 lists the test samples used in the evalua-
tions. The letters L and R preceding the cams of the V6 engine
denote the left and right cylinder banks, respectively, as seen
from the transmission. The cam shape is expressed in terms
of the cross-sectional shape of the nose portion; the numbers
indicate the height in the axial direction from both edges
of the cam. The concave and convex shapes are respectively
defined by the minus (-) and plus (+) signs. The values indi-
cated for the VQ30DE engine are the averages of the six cams
used for the three cylinders of each bank, and those for the
HR15DE engine are the averages of the eight cams used for
its four cylinders. The cams used in the durability tests were
machined under identical conditions aimed at obtaining a
surface roughness of Ra = 0.025 +m. The height of the cross-
sectional concave shape of cam No. 16 was -2.19 +m (stan-
dard deviation m = 1.02 +m), and the heights of the convex
shape of cam Nos. 12, 13, and 14 were 10.12 +m (standard
deviation m = 1.52 +m), 11.66 +m (standard deviation m =
1.34 +m), and 16.51 +m (standard deviation m = 1.73 +m),
respectively. Valve lifters were randomly selected from mass-
produced parts and were arranged according to the average
value of their respective population. The surface roughness
of the CrN-coated valve lifters was Ra = 0.015 +m (standard
deviation m = 0.002 +m), and the height of the cross-sectional
convex shape measured 3.7 +m (standard deviation m = 1.2
+m). The surface roughness of the nitrided valve lifters was

Table 1. Cam sample specifications, test conditions, and friction test results.
Cam shape Roughness Coating for Type Temperature Time Revolutions Friction torque Contact ratio
No. Test Engine Cam (mm) (Ra/mm) V/lifter of oil (K) (h) (rpm) (Nm) (%)

1 Friction VQ30DE R/Int. ¡3.92 0.027 CrN 5W30 353 24 2000 0.81 —
2 4.94 0.028 0.73 75
3 8.25 0.028 0.76 49
4 19.34 0.028 0.78 36
5 ¡3.80 0.035 0.78 32
6 Friction HR15DE Int. ¡4.70 0.031 CrN 0W20 353 24 2,000 0.74 —
7 2.50 0.017 0.65 81
8 ¡4.00 0.023 0.74 60
9 ¡1.40 0.018 0.67 79
10 ¡1.30 0.016 0.64 77
11 8.50 0.015 0.74 44
12 3.20 0.032 0.71 —
13 Durability VQ30DE L/Ehx. 10.12 — Nitriding 5W30 C CB 2 383 50 6,000 — —
14 L/Int. 11.66 — wt% — —
15 R/Exh. 16.51 — — —
16 R/Int. ¡2.19 — — —

The contact are could not be clearly discerned.

54 However, the institute’s administrators were openly hostile toward Braille’s system, as they resisted switching from the Haüy system.
Ra = 0.006 +m (standard deviation m = 0.001 +m), and the
height of the cross-sectional convex shape measured 4.8 +m
(standard deviation m = 1.5 +m).
Two types of engine oil were used in the friction tests: Nis-
san Motor Oil Extra Save X, 5W-30 (GF-3 without MoDTC),
and SL Strong Save X, 0W-20 (GF-3 with MoDTC). The test
results obtained with these two types of engine oil were com-
pared to investigate the effect on friction with and without
MoDTC. The oil used in the tests to investigate cam shape
durability was Nissan Motor Oil SL Extra Save X, 5W- 30. Figure 3 | Cam with concave cross-sectional shape.
In the durability tests, 2 wt% of carbon black (CB) MA-100
(Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) with a primary particle diameter
of 24 nm was added to the oil to simulate soot produced by
combustion in order to accelerate cam wear. To improve dis-
persion of the CB powder in the engine oil, it was first dried
at 80°C for 10 h before adding it to the oil. The CB powder
was then dispersed in the engine oil while churning the oil
with a MICCRA D-15 homogenizer–disperser (ART Prozess- Figure 4 | Cam with convex cross-sectional shape.
& Labortechnik GmbH & Co. KG) at a rotational speed of
2,000 rpm for 50 min.

Methods of measuring surface roughness and

cross-sectional shape
Cam surface roughness and cross-sectional shape were mea-
sured in the axial direction of the camshaft at the nose portion
of the cam where contact pressure between the cam and valve
lifter is the highest. A Formtracer SV-500 stylus-based surface
roughness testing device (Mitutoyo Corp.) was used to mea-
sure the surface roughness of the samples. The stylus had a
tip radius of 2 +m and a tip angle of 90° and Gaussian filter-
ing was performed. The measurement conditions were a cutoff
wavelength of 0.08 mm, a measurement length of 4.0 mm, and
a measurement speed of 0.05 mm/s. The same instrument and
stylus were used to measure the cross-sectional shape of the
samples. The shape measurement conditions were a measure-
ment speed of 0.5 mm/s and no shape correction was made. Figure 5 | Definitions of cross-sectional shape height h and curva-
The measurement length for the cam shape was the cam width ture r of cam–valve lifter.
of 11 mm and that for the valve lifter shape was a straight line
of 34 mm that included the center portion. Figures 3 and 4 of the contact area was measured and the contact ratio was
show measured examples of the concave and convex cross- derived from the proportion of the area relative to the cam’s
sectional cam shapes, respectively. The height values noted for total width of 11 mm. The other method was to use the Hertz
the concave and convex shapes of the cam and valve lifter are equation to calculate the contact width from the curvature of
expressed as the difference from a straight line connecting both the shapes of the cam and valve lifter; the contact ratio was
ends of the sample. A plus sign (+) indicates a convex shape then estimated from the proportion relative to the total cam
and a minus sign (-) indicates a concave shape. The contact width. It will be noted that the curvature of the nose portion
ratio between the cam and valve lifter was estimated by calcu- of the gray cast iron cams used in this study was 3.91 mm,
lating their curvature from an approximation of a curve con- the pressing force was 44.2 kgf, and the convex height of
necting both ends and the center as shown in Figure 5. the steel valve lifters was fixed at 5 +m. The Hertz equations
for calculating the maximum contact pressure PH and the
Method of calculating contact ratio and contact pressure contact width a are given in Eqs. [1] and [2] (Peterson and
of mating surfaces Winer (11)):
Two methods were used to estimate the contact state between
the cam and valve lifter. One method was to identify the con- PH = 0.364(wE2/R2)1/3 [1]
tact area from the contact-induced wear condition based on
photographs of the cam taken after the friction test; the width a = 1.14(wR/E)1/3 . [2]

Through the overwhelming insistence of its blind pupils, Braille’s system was finally adopted by the institute in 1854, two years after his death. 55
The manner in which the contact pressure distribution in the
contact area changed due to the difference in the crosssec-
tional shape of the cam was also investigated. That was done
by conducting simple finite element method (FEM) calcula-
tions to investigate the stress distribution near the contact
area for each of the different cam cross-sectional shapes and
a comparison was made of the maximum contact pressure
that occurred. The conditions used in the calculations are
shown in Table 2.
Engine friction tests conducted with a cylinder
head assembly
Because valvetrain friction is virtually unaffected by the explo-
sions occurring in the combustion chamber of the engine, it can
be evaluated on the basis of measurements made only with the
cylinder head assembly. Valvetrain friction tests were conducted
using the test equipment configuration shown in Figure 6. A
cylinder head assembled with only the intake-side camshafts
was connected through a torque meter to a drive motor via
couplings. The exhaust-side cams, chain, and sprockets were
removed. The offset value between the cam center and the valve
lifter center was 0.5 mm to rotate the valve lifters during the
test. Friction was evaluated by measuring the reaction force
to the drive torque generated by the motor. An oil circulation
system was used to circulate temperature-controlled oil from
the outside so that the temperature of the lubricating oil in the
oil gallery just before the cylinder head was controlled at 353 K
during the test. The oil pressure was maintained at 0.16 MPa. In
order to evaluate friction under a steady condition following the
completion of running-in, the test equipment was operated for
24 h at an equivalent crankshaft rotational speed of 2,000 rpm
(= camshaft rotational speed of 1,000 rpm; all speeds will be
subsequently noted as crankshaft rotational speeds) before
starting the test. Friction torque was then measured while vary-
ing the crankshaft rotational speed from 1,000 to 3,000 rpm
and maintaining it for 10 min at every 500 rpm step.
Engine durability test
Cam durability was evaluated in engine tests to investigate the
effects of different cam cross-sectional shapes mainly on cam
surface pitting and secondarily on cam wear. The V6 VQ30DE
engine was used in the durability tests. Instead of undertaking
combustion of gasoline fuel, wear of valvetrain parts was ac-
Table 2. CAE calculation conditions.
Simulation method Finite element method
Software Commercially available code
1=
Simulation model Size 4 of target area
Degrees of freedom ca. 12,000
Elements Second-order tetrahedral
Displacement boundaries Section Opposing faces constrained
Lifter Back face fully constrained
Load boundary Part Top section of cam lobe
Characteristic Perpendicular load
Material property Linear
56 Braille’s system spread throughout the French-speaking world but was slower to expand
Figure 6 | Friction test setup using a motor-driven cylinder head
assembly.
celerated by using a test oil containing CB powder. In this test
setup, the engine crankshaft was driven by a motor using a
belt. The oil circulation system was installed externally to sup-
ply temperature-controlled oil so that the lubricating oil in the
test engine reached the specified temperature. Tests were con-
ducted for 50 h under the conditions of a test oil temperature
of 383 K and a crankshaft rotational speed of 6,000 rpm. The
cam shape and surface pitting condition were confirmed three
times— before the test, after 25 h, and after 50 h—by removing
the camshafts and examining the changes in relation to the test
time. Under these test conditions, it was necessary to replace
the silent type of timing chain for transferring drive torque
from the crankshaft to the camshaft after 25 h had elapsed due
to stretching of the silent chain caused by wear. This indicated
that these test conditions produced severe wear. The test was
then continued for another 25 h after the chain was replaced,
for a total test time of 50 h. This test time condition is regarded
as being severe enough to exceed the lifetime load envisioned
for the engine under real-world driving conditions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Effect of cam shape on friction
Figure 7 shows the friction torque levels measured for cams
with different cross-sectional shapes as a function of the
crankshaft rotational speed. The cams used in this friction
test were sample Nos. 1–5 listed in Table 1, ranging from a
concave shape height of -3.92 +m to a convex shape height of
19.34 +m. The interface between the cam and valve lifter was
in the region of boundary to mixed lubrication in which in-
terference occurred between the surface roughness asperities
that exceeded the oil film thickness formed between the two
surfaces. Under this type of lubrication regime, the oil film be-
comes thicker with increasing rotational speed. Accordingly,
it is seen that friction torque tended to decline with a higher
crankshaft rotational speed. Among the cam specifications
evaluated, cam No. 1 with a concave shape height of -3.92 +m
displayed the highest friction torque at all of the crankshaft
rotational speeds and cam No. 2 with a convex shape height
of 4.9 +m displayed the lowest level of friction torque.
Figure 8 shows the friction torque levels measured at a
crankshaft rotational speed of 2,000 rpm, which is a typical
speed for evaluating fuel economy, as a function of the cam

Figure 7 | Friction torque for cams with different cross-sectional
shapes.
Figure 8 | Friction torque for various cam cross-sectional shapes at
2,000 rpm.
Figure 9 | Cam nose photographs showing posttest surface observation results for cams with different cross-sectional shapes.
in other places. By 1882 it was the system used by the blind in virtually every country.
cross-sectional shape. The results show a V-shaped tendency
with the No. 1 and No. 5 concave shapes and the No. 4 con-
vex shape displaying higher friction torque and the No. 3
and No. 2 convex shapes displaying lower friction torque in
that order. It can be predicted from these results that friction
torque would show a minimum value near a shape height of
0 +m. It was inferred that the effect of the cam cross-sectional
shape on friction torque is attributable to the change in the
contact state due to the shape difference.
Accordingly, an observation was made of the sliding condi-
tion of the nose portion where the highest contact pressure
occurs. Figure 9 presents posttest photographs that show the
appearance of cam Nos. 1–5 when used in the #1 cam posi-
tion on the front side. The test was conducted for only a short
period of approximately 25 h in total, including running-in
operation, but the photographs show clear evidence of strong
sliding marks due to contact with the valve lifter. Among the
concave-shaped cams, a contact area was indistinguishable on
cam No. 1, but cam No. 5 showed signs of strong contact at
both ends of the nose portion. For the convex-shaped cams,
evidence of contact was seen primarily in the center portion.
It is noteworthy that the contact width in the center tended to
become narrower with increasing height of the convex shape.
The proportion found by dividing the length of the contact area
by the total cam width of 11 mm was defined as the contact
ratio. The values found for all of the test samples were averaged
and the results are noted in Table 1 as the contact ratios.
Excluding cam No. 1 for which a contact area could not
be clearly discerned, the contact ratio between the cam and
valve lifter for the other four cams is shown in Figure 10 on
Page 58 as a function of the height of the cam cross-sectional
shape. Cam No. 5 with a concave shape showed the lowest
contact ratio at 32%, followed in increasing order by the No.
4 and No. 3 convex-shaped cams at 36 and 49%, respectively.
Cam No. 2 with the lowest convex shape height displayed the
highest contact ratio at 75%.
The contact width was also calculated with the Hertz equa-
tion by approximating the respective curvature of the shapes
57
of the cam and valve lifter and taking into account the load
condition. The results are also plotted in Figure 10 as a dashed
line. It will be noted that the maximum Hertzian contact pres-
sure was calculated only for the convex shapes where contact
in the center could be determined with simple calculations.
The calculated results showed nearly the same tendency as
the results computed from observation of the photographs,
and the absolute values also showed good consistency. These
results verified that the sliding marks observed on the tested
cam samples were all nearly in the positions where contact
occurred. Based on the calculated and experimental results,
it can be expected that a lower height of the convex cross-
sectional shape of the cam will be more effective in improving
the contact ratio between the cam and valve lifter.
Next, friction torque is shown in Figure 11 as a function
of the cam lobe–valve lifter contact ratio. The friction torque
measured for cam Nos. 2, 3, and 4 with a convex shape and
cam No. 5 with a concave shape is shown on the vertical axis
in relation to the contact ratio between the cam lobe and valve Figure 10 | Cam–valve lifter contact ratio vs. cam cross-sectional shape
lifter on the horizontal axis. The plots are nearly distributed height and comparison with estimated contact ratios (dashed line).
on one straight line, indicating that friction torque correlates
strongly with the cam–valve lifter contact ratio. It is inferred
that the load per unit length in the contact area decreases with
an increasing contact ratio between the cam and valve lifter,
allowing the formation of a thicker oil film between the two
surfaces that mitigates the direct contact between them and
leads to a reduction in friction torque as a result.
One more notable point here is that the contact ratio and
friction torque for cam No. 5 with a concave shape height of
-3.80 +m differed greatly from the results for cam No. 2 with a
convex shape height of 4.94 +m, though their absolute shape
values were relatively close. The noteworthy point is that even
a small concave shape leads to a substantial reduction in the
contact ratio and a large increase in friction torque. It is inferred
that in the case of a concave shape, both edges form a convex
shape with a small curvature, which increases the contact pres-
sure locally and leads to an increase in friction. The previous
cross-sectional cam shape had a concave profile as represented
by cam No. 5 due to the polishing film process as mentioned in Figure 11 | Friction torque as a function of cam–valve lifter contact ratio.
the Introduction. Because there is a clear relationship between
the contact ratio and friction torque, as shown in Figure 11, a
new profile cam was developed aimed at achieving a contact
ratio over 80%. This profile is flat to slightly convex in consid-
eration of mass productivity and has been applied to reduce
valvetrain friction by approximately 10%. The details of the
contact pressure with regard to this profile will be compared
again in the discussion of the FEM calculations in the subsection
Contact Pressure Prediction by FEM Calculations for Different
Cam Shapes and Cam Durability Evaluation in Engine Tests.
The foregoing discussion made it clear that the cross-sec-
tional shape of the cam has a large effect on friction torque
and the contact ratio between the cam and valve lifter. The
effect of the shape of the valve lifter that mates with the cam
was also investigated by means of calculations. Figure 12 Figure 12 | Curvature as a function of cam and valve lifter convex
shows the approximated curvature in relation to the height shape height. ÎÎÎÎÎ

58 Braille was officially adopted by schools for the blind in the U.S. in 1916, and a universal braille code for English was formalized in 1932.
STLE
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ÎÎÎÎÎ of the convex shapes of the cam and valve lifter. The small
11-mm width of the cam was less than one third of the 34-
mm outer diameter of the valve lifter, so a convex cam shape
with even a slight height had a significant effect on the cur-
vature. On the other hand, because the valve lifter had a large
outer diameter (i.e., width), it would need an incredibly high
convex height to form the same curvature as the cam. For
example, a cam with a convex height of 3 +m has a curvature
of 5,000 mm, but for a valve lifter to achieve the same cur-
vature would require a convex height of 50 +m, a dimension
more than 10 times greater. This indicates that the height of
the cross-sectional shape of the valve lifter has a small effect.
Similarly, Figure 13 presents the calculated contact ratios Figure 13 | Calculated effect on contact ratio of combinations of dif-
for combinations of different convex-shaped cam samples and ferent cam and valve lifter cross-sectional shapes.
valve lifters with various shapes ranging from concave to con-
vex. The results show that, in relation to the different cam
shapes, the effect of the valve lifter shape is markedly small
as long as the specification is within the same height range
of the cross-sectional shapes. Figure 14 presents a bird’s-eye
view of the calculated results in Figure 13. It is seen that the
contact ratio on the z-axis shows strong dependence only on
the cam shape height indicated on the x-axis. It will be noted
that a concave cross-sectional valve lifter shape also shows
little effect, similar to a convex shape. However, for a concave
cross-sectional cam shape, it becomes impossible to calculate
the effect as soon as the height of the concave shape is slightly
below 0 +m. This implies that contact shifts from the center to Figure 14 | Bird’s-eye view showing calculated effect on contact ratio of
the two ends of the cam and suggests the large effect exerted combinations of different cam and valve lifter cross-sectional shapes.
by the height of the cam cross-sectional shape.
It is assumed that the flatness of the valve lifter crown may
be somewhat distorted by the effects of residual stress due
to the phase transformation in the carburizing, nitriding, or
other heat treatment applied to the base steel material as well
as in the surface coating process. However, the accuracy of
current mass-produced parts would not significantly exceed
the range of the specifications of the cam samples tested in
this study. Accordingly, the results of the tests conducted to
validate the effect of the valve lifter shape will be omitted here.

Effects of surface roughness and oil type

As mentioned above, the lubrication state between the cam
and valve lifter is in the boundary or mixed lubrication re-
gime where contact occurs between surface asperities that
exceed the thickness of the oil film between the two sur-
faces. As many studies have reported to date, valvetrain fric-
tion torque decreases with decreasing cam surface roughness Figure 15 | Effect of different cam cross-sectional shapes and sur-
face roughnesses on friction.
(Katoh and Yasuda (4); Mabuchi, et al. (5)). To investigate
the effect of the interaction between cam surface roughness
and cross-sectional shape on reducing friction, evaluations Following the test, an observation was made of the contact
were conducted using cam Nos. 6 to 12, which were prepared condition on the cam surface and the calculated contact ratios
with different levels of surface roughness and cross-sectional are noted in the figure. The symbols marked with an asterisk
shapes. The test oil used was SL Strong Save X, 0W-20 (GF-3 (*) indicate that the contact ratio could not be calculated
with MoDTC), a fuelsaving oil containing the MoDTC fric- because the contact area on the cam surface was indistinct
tion modifier. and could not be identified. The relationship of the surface
The results of the friction tests are presented in Figure 15. roughness to each contact ratio was estimated and is indicated ÎÎÎÎÎ

60 Braille is read by moving the hands from left to right along each line with the reading generally done with the index fingers.
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ÎÎÎÎÎ by the dashed lines. It is seen that friction torque declined
with an increasing contact ratio. In addition, a comparison
of the results for cam Nos. 8 and 9, which showed virtually
the same contact ratio, indicates that friction torque tended
to decline with a smoother surface finish.
Figure 16 shows the friction torque found for cams with
different cross-sectional shapes and surface roughnesses as
a function of the height of the cam cross-sectional shape.
Similar to the results shown in Figure 8, the results tend to
be distributed in a V-shaped pattern extending across the vi-
cinity of 0 +m that denotes a flat shape. Figure 17 shows the
cam–valve lifter contact ratio relative to the height of the cam
cross-sectional shape. The dashed line indicates the contact
ratio estimated from the contact width calculated with Eq. [2]
only for two convex-shaped cams. The open triangles (U)
denote concave-shaped cams with different levels of surface Figure 16 | Friction torque as a function of cam cross-sectional shape
roughness. It is seen that they showed nearly the same con- height for cams with various cross-sectional shapes and surface
tact ratios despite their difference in surface roughness. This roughnesses.
implies that the contact ratio is determined almost entirely
by the cam shape. Like the results in Figure 10, the distri-
bution peaked near a height of 0 +m where the cam shape
became flat. It is also seen that the contact ratios tended to
be relatively larger for the convex- shaped cams than for the
concave-shaped ones.
Figure 18 shows friction torque as a function of the cam–
valve lifter contact ratio for cams with different levels of sur-
face roughness. Dashed lines have been added to indicate the
imaginary lines of friction torque for cam surface roughnesses
of Ra = 0.015 +m and Ra = 0.020 +m. It is seen that friction
torque declined with a lower surface roughness when the
cam shape was nearly identical. For these two surface rough-
ness values, friction torque tended to be lower with a larger
cam–valve lifter contact ratio, like the tendency seen in Figure
11. These results suggest that the cam cross-sectional shape
and surface roughness are independently effective in reduc- Figure 17 | Cam/valve lifter contact ratio as a function of cam shape
ing friction. height and comparison with estimated contact ratios (dashed line).
The relationship between friction torque and the cam–
valve lifter contact ratio for the cams in Figure 11, which
were tested in oil without the MoDTC additive, can be ap-
proximated with the following equation:

Y = -0.15X/100 + 0.84. [3]

On the other hand, the equation for the relationship be-

tween friction torque and the cam–valve lifter contact ratio
for the cams shown in Figure 18, which were tested in oil
containing MoDTC, is shown in Eq. [4]. This equation was
estimated by converting the four-cylinder test condition
(eight cams) to an equivalent three-cylinder test condition
(six cams), as in Figure 11.

Y = -0.23X/100 + 0.66. [4]

When comparing Eqs. [3] and [4], the difference factor Figure 18 | Friction torque vs. cam–valve lifter contact ratio for cams
that should be noted is the slope, representing the coefficient with different surface roughness.

62 Experienced users read braille at speeds comparable to print readers—about 200-400 words a minute.

Figure 19 | Mesh configuration for simulating contact state between
cam and valve lifter (simplified one-half cam model for center axis of
cam).
of X; that is, the contact ratio. The test results obtained with
the oil containing MoDTC appear to show larger sensitivity of
friction to the contact ratio between the cam and valve lifter
than the results obtained with the other oil. Under high-tem-
perature and high-pressure sliding conditions, the MoDTC
additive reacts with the base iron material and also with the
zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZnDTP) antiwear agent in the
engine oil to form a solid lubricant of MoS2 in the sliding area.
As a result, it has the effect of greatly lowering the friction
coefficient in the sliding area (Grossiord, et al. (12)). On the
other hand, a change in the cam–valve lifter contact ratio due
to a change in the cam shape from flat to concave or convex
results in an increase in contact pressure in the contact area.
For example, with a flat cam shape, the maximum Herztian
contact pressure when the cam nose comes in contact with
the valve lifter is around 600 MPa. In contrast, for a con-
vex- shaped cam with a height of 10 +m, the contact ratio
decreases by 50%, but the maximum contact pressure nearly
W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
doubles to 1,130 GPa. In other words, a decline in the contact
ratio results in an increase in contact pressure in the contact
area, which might affect the chemical reactions between the
oil additives and the sliding parts. Gondo and Yamamoto (13)
conducted friction tests using a combination of steel samples
with a Cr content of 1 wt% and oil containing MoDTC; they
reported that, under a condition of high contact pressure, the
friction reduction effect of MoDTC tended to decrease with
increasing contact pressure. Similarly, the ZnDTP antiwear
agent reacts with iron to form a phosphoric acid compound
in the sliding area. Palacios (14) conducted friction tests us-
ing steel samples and reported that the amount of phosphoric
acid compound formed in the sliding area peaked at a certain
load level, indicating that it depended on the balance between
the formation reaction and the wear load. In other words, the
reason why the cam cross-sectional shape had a large effect on
friction in the tests conducted with the oil containing MoDTC
was probably because the change in contact pressure influ-
enced the formation state of the reaction film of the MoDTC
additive in the oil.
The MoDTC-containing engine oil evaluated in this study
had a base oil viscosity of 0W-20, which was lower than that
of the oil without this additive. Moreover, the components of
additives other than MoDTC were not necessarily completely
the same. Therefore, the possibility that the increase in the
friction slope in relation to the oil without MoDTC might
have been due to some factor other than the MoDTC additive
cannot be denied. However, because the lubrication regime
between the cam and the follower is that of mixed to bound-
ary lubrication, the friction level of conventional engine oil
not containing MoDTC would presumably considerably ex-
ceed the friction level seen for the oil without MoDTC in this
study. There is no doubt that the lower friction level observed
for the MoDTC-containing 0W-20 oil compared with that for
the oil without the additive was largely due to the effect of
MoDTC, as can be seen in the difference in the intercept val-
ues obtained with the approximation equation. Due to the
large contribution of MoDTC, it is reasonable to assume that
the worsening of friction due to the cam shape was related to
the large effect of the MoDTC additive.
Contact pressure prediction by FEM calculations for
different cam shapes and cam durability evaluation in
engine tests
The stress distribution near the contact area with the valve
lifter was estimated by FEM calculations for cams with dif-
ferent cross-sectional shapes. Figure 19 shows the calculation
model consisting of flat plates simulating the cam nose tip and
the valve lifter crown and with the addition of their respective
meshes. Contact pressure was calculated under static loads for
three types of models representing concave, flat, and convex
shape specifications. The height of the concave and convex
shapes was set at 300 +m to simplify the models and the cal-
culations. It will be noted that the mesh size varied depending
on the location, with the smallest size being 100 +m.
FEBRUARY 2018 • 63
Figure 20 | Contact state and pressure distribution of convex, flat, and concave cams in contact with valve lifter.
Figure 20 shows the stress distributions calculated for the
three cam shapes, and Figure 21 shows the contact pressure
distributions at various distances from the cam center point.
For the concave shape, the edges of the cam come in contact
with the valve lifter, resulting in a dense distribution of stress.
In contrast, the center portion of the convex-shaped cam comes
in contact with the valve lifter, producing a broad distribution
of the high stress region, though it is relatively small. That
difference is strongly reflected in the difference in the absolute
values of the peak pressure seen in Figure 21. The maximum
contact pressure predicted for the concave-shaped cam shows
a high value that is more than twice as great as the maximum
value of the convex-shaped cam. The difference of that effect
is consistent with the difference in the contact ratio due to the
shape difference, as seen, for example, in Figure 11. It can be
understood that the contact pressure increases markedly for
the concaveshaped cam because of its small contact area. It
Figure 21 | FEM calculations predicted contact pressure between
cam and valve lifter at various distances from cam center position.
64 Almost two centuries after its invention, braille remains a system of powerful and enduring utility.
will be noted that the estimated contact pressures in Figure 21
are lower overall than the contact pressures calculated so far
with Eq. [1]. The major reason for that is probably because the
model could not accurately reproduce the tiny deformations
that the cam actually underwent due to the fact that the small-
est mesh size was a large 100 +m. Accordingly, the absolute
contact pressure values are cited here only for reference, and
a comparison will be limited to the relative magnitude of the
contact pressure for the different cam shapes.
The foregoing results showed that the contact pressure in
the contact area increased for cams with a concave or convex
cross-sectional shape. The contact pressure between the cam
and valve lifter displayed a high valve of at least 600 MPa; de-
pending on the material strength of the parts, there was concern
that peeling delamination or pitting might occur due to rolling
fatigue during long-term operation of the engine. In addition,
in order to make clear how the initial shape might change due
Figure 22 | Change in cam shape height for cams of different cross-
sectional shapes in engine durability tests.
 to wear resulting from long-term operation, cam durability was
investigated in engine tests using cam Nos. 13–16, which had
four different cross-sectional shape specifications.
Figure 22 shows the changes in the four cam cross-sectional
shapes during the durability tests. The results indicate that both
the convex and concave cam shapes displayed a gradual reduc-
tion in their height values toward a flat shape due to wear dur-
ing the tests. The amount of change in the height of the cam
cross-sectional shapes after 50 h was found to be an average
of 1.6 +m for the concave-shaped cams and a range of 2.9–
3.1 +m for the convex-shaped cams. The convex-shaped cams
showed a larger shape change due to wear, but a comparison
of the relative difference from the initial height revealed that
the concave-shaped cams underwent a larger rate of change.
Presumably, that is because the concave-shaped cams tended
to wear more in the contact area due to the higher contact
pressure there, as mentioned earlier. The durability tests were
conducted under severe conditions that probably exceeded the
lifetime wear experienced in real-world operating conditions.
Considering that the initial shape still remained even after 50
h of testing, the initial shape height of convex cams must be set
within 3 +m and that of concave cams within 1.5 mm in order
to minimize friction by approaching a contact ratio of 100%
through running-in. Detailed observations of the cam surface
following the tests revealed that none of the cams exhibited
any evidence of pitting fatigue. This indicated that the effect
on cam surface fatigue was small in the range of the cam shape
specifications used in this study.
REFERENCES
(1) Shimada, Y., Abou, S., Okita, K., and Chuubachi, M.
(2006), “Development of Friction Prediction Procedure
and Friction Reduction Technologies for New Nissan HR
and MR Engines,” SAE Technical Paper 2006-01-0618.
(2) Calabretta, M., Cacciatore, D., and Carden, P. (2010), “Val-
vetrain Friction—Modeling, Analysis and Measurement of
a High Performance Engine Valvetrain System,” SAE Tech-
nical Paper 2010-01-1492.
(3) Beloiu, D. M. (2010), “Modeling and Analysis of Valve
Train, Part I—Conventional Systems,” SAE Technical Pa-
per 2010-01-1198.
(4) Katoh, A. and Yasuda, Y. (1994), “An Analysis of Friction
Reduction Techniques for the Direct-Acting Valve Train
System of a New-Generation Lightweight 3-Liter V6 Nis-
san Engine,” SAE Technical Paper 940992.
(5) Mabuchi, Y., Yasuda, Y., and Kano, M. (1995), “Friction
Reduction Technology between Cam and Follower,” Nis-
san Technical Report, 36, pp 107–112.
(6) Yasuda, Y., Kano, M., Mabuchi, Y., and Abou, S. “Research
on Diamond-Like Carbon Coatings for Low-Friction Valve
Lifters, (2003),” SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-1101.
(7) Mabuchi, Y., Hamada, T., Izumi, H., Yasuda, Y., and Kano,
M. (2007), “The Development of Hydrogen-Free DLC-
Without braille, it would be extremely difficult for blind people to understand the written word.
CONCLUSIONS
Friction tests were conducted on automotive engine camshafts
using cams with different cross-sectional shapes and surface
roughnesses and engine oil containing the MoDTC friction
modifier additive. The results made the following points clear.
1. Cams with a flat cross-sectional shape showed the low-
est friction, whereas friction increased with increas-
ing height of concave and convex shapes. At the same
height, concave-shaped cams tended to show higher
friction than convex-shaped cams because of their
smaller contact ratio with the valve lifter.
2. Cam surface roughness and cam shape were found to
influence friction independently.
3. The effect of the cam cross-sectional shape on friction
was more pronounced for engine oil containing the
MoDTC additive than for oil without the additive. One
factor at work here could be that higher contact pres-
sure in the contact area obstructs the formation of the
MoDTC reaction film.
4. Both the concave and convex cam cross-sectional
shapes approached a flat shape due to wear during en-
gine operation. Concave-shaped cams with high con-
tact pressure in the contact area underwent a relatively
larger shape change than the convex-shaped cams.
ORCID
Y. Mabuchi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2870-0936
Coated Valve-Lifter,” SAE Technical Paper 2007-01-
1752.
(8) Ohmori, T. and Hattori, H. (2001), “Friction Analysis be-
tween Cam and Shim in Engine Valve Train System,” Toyo-
ta Central Research Center R&D Review, 36(1), pp 39–44.
(9) Takahashi, M., Watanabe, T., and Kougo, K. (2012), “Con-
tribution of Production Engineering to Improvement in
Fuel Consumption,” Nissan Technical Report, 71, pp
4–7.
(10) Miyanaka, H., Ichimoto, H., and Torii, H. (2002), Mazda
Technical Report, 20, pp 86–96.
(11) Peterson, M. B. and Winer, W. O. (1980), Wear Control
Handbook, New York, NY: ASME.
(12) Grossiord, C., Martin, J. M., Varlot, K., Vacher, B., Le
Mogne, T., and Yamada, Y. (2000), “Tribochemical Interac-
tions between ZNDTP, MoDTC and Calcium Borate,” Tri-
bology Letters, 8(4), pp 203–212.
(13) Gondo, S. and Yamamoto, Y. (1991), “Mechanism of Sur-
face Film Formation of MoDTC and Effect of Rubbing Ma-
terials,” Tribologist, 36(3), pp 242–248.
(14) Palacios, J. M. (1987), “Films Formed by Antiwear Ad-
ditives and Their Incidence in Wear and Scuffing,” Wear,
114, pp 41–49.
65
NEWSMAKERS
TOP STORIES
OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF
ASIAN LUBRICANT
MANUFACTURERS UNION
The Asian Lubricant Manufacturers Union
(ALMU) officially launched on Dec.
1, 2017, in Singapore. The trade asso-
ciation serves the all-important Asian
lubricant market—the fastest-growing
region for lubricant demand—and has
appointed Enterprise Promotion Cen-
tres Pte Ltd. (EPC), headed by Jan Tan
as association manager.
ALMU represents the combined
knowledge and expertise of lubricant
manufacturers throughout the region.
Its goal is to become the trusted voice
for the Asian lubricants industry, sup-
porting the development of high quali-
ty lubricants and providing exceptional
value to its membership organizations.
The region in which ALMU operates
includes East Asia, South Asia, North
Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Prospective ALMU members in-
clude independent lubricant manu-
facturers, national oil companies and
major oil companies, lubricant addi-
tive manufacturers, marketers and
distributors, base oil manufacturers,
marketers and distributors. Although
members will be primarily from Asia,
any organization outside Asia that has
business interests in the region is wel-
come to join.
EPC is a Singapore-based company
set up in 1989 as an outcome of the
SME Master Plan jointly formulated
by the Singapore Economic Develop-
ment Board and the relevant govern-
ment agencies. EPC provides business
facilitation as well as managed services
to help companies promote growth and
develop capability. EPC has particular
expertise in association and event man-
agement services.
For more information, visit www.
asianlubricantmanufacturers.org.
PETRO-CANADA LUBRICANTS
ACHIEVES ISO 9001 AND 14001
CERTIFICATIONS
Petro-Canada Lubricants, based in Missis-
sauga, Ontario, Canada, has announced
66
it is the first white oils, specialty base
oils and lubricants manufacturer in
the world to achieve the latest ISO
9001:2015 and ISO14001:2015 certi-
fications.
The world’s foremost ISO standards
for quality and environmental manage-
ment were revised and set to become
an industry requirement in September
2018. Petro-Canada Lubricants has
achieved the certification 16 months
ahead of the industry deadline, mak-
ing it the first lubricants manufacturer
to achieve these certifications, which
cover all the organizations’ operations
globally.
The scope of the ISO 9001 and
14001 certifications cover all aspects
of Petro-Canada Lubricants’ business,
including manufacturing, blending,
packaging, design, sales and distribu-
tion of base stocks, oils, greases and
lubricants.
“The ISO certifications are the high-
est endorsement from a key external
authority to say that we are leaders in
quality and environmental standards,”
comments Tony Stranges, director,
Management Systems, Petro-Canada
Lubricants.
“It is continued validation of the
quality of our product design, manu-
facture, delivery and service and com-
mitment to our environmental obliga-
tions.
“The speed at which we have
achieved this certification is testament
to the fact that our processes and oper-
ations are consistently high performing
and that we continue to stay ahead of
the curve when it comes to continuous
improvement.”
PETROLEUM RESEARCHER
RECEIVES ASTM INTERNATIONAL’S
DUDLEY MEDAL
R.A. Kishore Nadkarni, Ph.D., of Millen-
nium Analytics, Inc., has received the
2017 Charles B. Dudley Medal Award
from ASTM International (based in West
Conshohocken, Pa.), one of the world’s
leading standards organizations.
Nadkarni was honored for his con-
tributions to a number of important
and influential publications on various
Braille gives blind individuals access to children’s stories, educational reading, financial statements,
aspects of petroleum fuel and lubricant
analyses, including topics such as bio-
fuels and fossil fuel products.
In addition to the authorship of his
publications, Nadkarni also is consid-
ered a vital contributor to the standards
development process of ASTM Interna-
tional committee on petroleum prod-
ucts, liquid fuels, and lubricants.
Nadkarni has been an ASTM In-
ternational member for more than 33
years and has received many awards,
including the D02 Award of Merit in
2005 and the D02 Scroll of Achieve-
ment in 2009. In addition to serving
positions on many D02 subcommit-
tees, Nadkarni also served as chairman
of the committee on publications, an
organization-wide role.
Nadkarni holds a bachelor’s, mas-
ter’s and doctorate degree in analyti-
cal chemistry from the University of
Bombay in India. Nadkarni has previ-
ously served as a research associate at
the University of Kentucky, manager of
the Materials Science Center Analytical
Facility at Cornell University and ana-
lytical leader for ExxonMobil.
VTT RESEARCHER WINS
TRIBOLOGY GOLD MEDAL
The Tribology Trust presented VTT’s
professor Kenneth Holmberg with the
most highly prized award in the field,
the Tribology Gold Medal Award, for
his long-standing, major achievements
in material and
friction research.
The impacts of
Holmberg’s re-
search can be seen
in lower energy
consumption by
machinery, which
has an effect on
climate change.
Holmberg is the Kenneth Holmberg
first Finn to be
awarded the prize.
“Friction accounts for 20% of all
energy consumption in the world.
When friction is reduced, less energy
is consumed. This is an excellent way
of combating climate change,” says
Holmberg.
 Holmberg has three research focus- integrated lightweight construction in new chairman of ASTM International’s
es related to the reduction of friction small-volume production and motor committee on petroleum products,
and machine wear: thin surfaces lay- sport applications. liquid fuels, and lubricants. His term
ers such as nanostructured thin films, began Jan. 1.
diamond-like carbon coatings and gra- TECHNICAL DIRECTOR AT NBB The committee on petroleum prod-
phene; modeling and digital design; NAMED CHAIR OF ASTM ucts, liquid fuels, and lubricants was
and their global impact. The related INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE formed in 1904 and boasts a current
findings have great impacts in the in- Scott Fenwick, technical director at the membership of more than 2,500 in-
dustry, power plants and transport and National Biodiesel Board (NBB) in Jef- dustry professionals and experts. These
residential environments. ferson City, Mo., has been named the technical experts oversee more than Î Î Î Î Î
Holmberg was presented his award
on Dec. 20, 2017, at the Embassy of the
United Kingdom in Helsinki, Finland.
The Tribology Gold Medal Award
also is known as the Tribology Nobel
Prize because it is awarded in a manner
similar to the Nobel prize procedure.
The prize was presented for the first
time in 1972 and has been awarded to
38 people from 12 countries.
The Tribology Trust is managed
by the Institution of Mechanical En-
gineers, an independent mechanical
engineering association with headquar-
ters in London.

SCHAEFFLER TAKES OVER

REMAINDER OF COMPACT DYNAMICS
One year after acquiring the majority
stake in Compact Dynamics GmbH,
Schaeffler, based in Herzogenaurach,
Germany, has now acquired the re-
maining 49% stake in the company
from SEMIKRON. Through the acqui-
sition of the high-performance elec-
tric motor manufacturer, Schaeffler is
expanding its expertise in the field of
electric motors.
For Schaeffler, the acquisition of the
remaining shares of Compact Dynamics
is an important step in the implementa-
tion of its strategy “Mobility for tomor-
row,” and electric mobility represents
one of the company’s key opportunities
for the future. This also includes the
expansion of the company’s portfolio
through the addition of new products.
The acquisition of Compact Dynamics
enhances Schaeffler’s existing techno-
logical expertise.
Compact Dynamics GmbH, based
in Starnberg, Germany, is a develop-
ment specialist in the field of innova-
tive electric drive concepts with a fo-
cus on high-performance drives and

restaurant menus, contracts, regulations, insurance policies, directories, cookbooks and more. 67
ÎÎÎÎÎ 800 standards that play a significant
role in all aspects relating to the stan-
dardization of petroleum products and
lubricants.
A member of ASTM International
since 2005, Fenwick has previously
served as a laboratory manager with
Inspectorate America Corp., Inter-
tek Caleb Brett and others. He holds
a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from
Purdue University.
In addition to several ASTM In-
ternational committees, Fenwick is a
member of the International Organiza-
tion for Standardization and the Cana-
dian General Standards Board.
ATRP SOLUTIONS RENAMED
PILOT POLYMER TECHNOLOGIES
Pittsburgh, Pa.-based, ATRP Solutions,
Inc., a subsidiary of Pilot Chemical Co.,
is now Pilot Polymer Technologies, Inc.
(PPT). The new name better reflects
PPT’s broadening proprietary technolo-
gies in important chemical markets.
“Our name change shows Pilot
Chemical’s commitment to growth
and innovation in the specialty poly-
mer market,” says Patrick McCarthy,
president of Pilot Polymer Technolo-
gies. “It is great to be part of a com-
pany with the leadership, vision and
resources to support such an entrepre-
neurial initiative.”
Pilot Chemical acquired ATRP Solu-
tions in July 2017 to expand its foot-
print in the oil field chemicals, lubri-
cant additives and paints and coatings
markets.
“The new name better aligns ATRP
Solutions with the Pilot brand and
TLT T R I B O LO G Y &
LU B R I C AT I O N
T E C H N O LO G Y
TLT is interested in hearing from our readers. Let us know what’s happening in your
company. If you have news about a new employee or if someone in your company has
been recognized with an award or any other interesting items, let us know. Please send
us your news releases and photos for publication in Newsmakers to TLT Magazine, Attn:
Rachel Fowler, 840 Busse Highway, Park Ridge, IL 60068, rfowler@stle.org.
68 • FEBRUARY 2018
demonstrates Pilot Chemical’s confi-
dence in Pilot Polymer Technologies
to develop products and build its busi-
ness,” says Pamela Butcher, president
and CEO of Pilot Chemical.
PPT’s lab and team of research sci-
entists will remain in Pittsburgh.
ASTM INTERNATIONAL HONORS
ANDY PICKARD
Andy L. Pickard, a consultant from Qua-
licum Beach, British Columbia, was
honored with the Sydney D. Andrews
Scroll of Achievement from ASTM In-
ternational’s committee on petroleum
products, liquid fuels, and lubricants
(based in West Conshohocken, Pa.).
Pickard, who joined ASTM Inter-
national in 1983, was honored for his
many contributions to advancing the
aims of the committee. He has previ-
ously received the Award of Appre-
ciation (2006), the George V. Dryoff
Award (2009), the Award of Excellence
(2004-2013) and the Frank W. Rein-
hart Award (2015), all from the com-
mittee. Pickard also received the Award
of Merit in 2007.
Pickard, now a consultant, previ-
ously served in a number of positions
at Petro-Canada between 1979 and
2003, including as a lab supervisor,
technical services manager and senior
fuels specialist. He holds a bachelor’s
degree in chemistry from the Univer-
sity of British Columbia, a doctorate
in chemistry from the University of
Western Ontario and completed post-
doctorate studies in chemistry at the
University of Chicago.
In addition to ASTM International,
Want to be recognized in TLT?
T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY
Pickard is a member of the Association
of the Chemical Profession of British
Columbia, the Canadian Chemical So-
ciety, and SAE International.
PROMOTIONS & TRANSITIONS
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR JOINS
MIDCONTINENTAL CHEMICAL CO.
Olathe, Kan.-based, MidContinental
Chemical Co., Inc., announces the ap-
pointment of STLE-member Bernard C.
Roell, Jr., Ph.D., as technical director.
Roell brings more than 20 years of
extensive experience in management
and support in the specialty chemical
industry. Most recently Roell was the
vice president of research and develop-
ment for RSC Bio Solutions, a provider
of lubricants, cleaners, absorbents, gear
oil, greases for the marine, offshore oil
and gas, utility fleets, waste manage-
ment, energy and
turf industries.
Roell replaces
Phil Korosec, who
retired in Decem-
ber 2017.
Roell holds a
doctorate in or-
ganic chemistry
from Ohio Uni-
versity, as well as Dr. Bernard C. Roell, Jr.
a bachelor’s of sci-
ence degree in chemistry and a bache-
lor’s of arts degree in mathematics from
Lock Haven University. He is actively
involved with STLE and the American
Chemical Society. He holds multiple
U.S. and international patents and has
had many papers published.
W W W. ST L E .O RG
 Mark Your Calendar!

And learn about the technical,

2018 STLE environmental and social issues that
Tribology will most impact tribology research
in the 21st Century.
Frontiers For the fourth year STLE is convening an
Conference international community to share tribology’s
most cutting-edge research. Come join us for
four information-packed days with tribology’s top
minds—you’ll leave with a better understanding
of how your company’s products will fit into an
The Drake Hotel Chicago ever-evolving technical future.
Oct. 28-31, 2018 Visit www.stle.org for program updates,
online registration and hotel reservations.
TFC registration opens following
the 73rd STLE Annual Meeting &
Exhibition, May 20-24, 2018, in
Minneapolis.
See you in Chicago!
• Cutting-edge tribology research
• Networking
• Industry recognition
• Leadership opportunities
• Invited speakers
• International community
• Idea sharing

Co-sponsored by ASME Tribology Division.

© Can Stock Photo / malajski

Places of Interest • The Art Institute of Chicago • Museum of Science and Industry • Follow us on:
Field Museum • Shedd Aquarium • Willis Tower • Lincoln Park Zoo •
John Hancock Building • Navy Pier • Millennium Park • Michigan Avenue shopping

Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, 840 Busse Highway, Park Ridge, IL 60068 • info@stle.org • www.stle.org • 847-825-5536
SOUNDING BOARD

Describe the difficulties your company encounters

in trying to attract bright young talent for technical
positions relating to lubrication.

The shortage of good technical people entering the field contin-

ues to be an issue for the lubricants industry. Competition for
young talent is intense, and candidates often are more inter-
ested in fields with the words bio or nano attached to them. STLE
members in rural areas struggle with competitive wages and the
preference many young people have for urban environments.
Many survey respondents commented on the lack of awareness
young people have about the lubricants industry. One thing all
survey respondents agreed on was that in-house training is es-
sential for young hires. “There are few professionals graduating

© Can Stock Photo / photography33

from universities with knowledge in condition monitoring,” said
one TLT reader. Lubricant companies typically use existing per-
sonnel to train the next generation of technical personnel, as
well as conferences, workshops, technical schools and Webinars.

I can’t pay the smart ones enough to
attract them to the business.
There is no preparation in schools
for this line of work. Can only
really be accomplished in an
internship-type setting at a
manufacturing plant or lube supplier.
Location of work sites.
While many new, young people
have an excellent formal education,
they have no understanding of
the workplace and no practical
experience. In immersing a
new person into our team and
expecting him to use our cumulative
knowledge, both practical and
formal, we can bring him along in
a comfortable and safe manner.
Union contract does not allow it;
lubrication positions come out of the
grounds keeping crew. I have to live
with it and find training for them as
much as possible.
We are currently about to embark on
a recruitment campaign for a new
technical support engineer. We
are fascinated to see how easy or
difficult the process will be. We’ve
received some impressive CVs from
various head hunters the past few
months.
This has not been an issue with our
company.
Low remuneration and poor career
prospects are obstacles to attracting
young talents to rural areas.
The biggest issue is that none of
the young talents are aware of
the importance of lubricants and
lubrication in the industrial
environment. We address it in the
way that we allow them to carry
out certain tests during the
familiarization phase to understand,
on the one hand, how a lubricant
behaves and, on the other hand,
to experience how lubricants and
lubrication can support customers
in their applications in daily work.
We aren’t hiring.
The problem is not attracting people
to the job but, rather, keeping them
in a technical position long enough
so they can make meaningful
contributions.

70 Through braille the blind also can pursue hobbies, music scores, hymnals, playing cards and board games.
 We’re still searching for talented
people like chemists. What is the Which scenario best describes h how
ow well your company
p stays
best searching method available currentt with
th ttechnical
h l advances
d s in oil
o l condition
conditi monit
monitoring
ing
for small independent lubricant databases?
manufacturers?
We successfully adapt our database to the
t new software when
There are not many experienced the old
o d version
e s o becomes
beco es obsolete.
obso etee. 31%
lubrication engineers, so we try to We use the newest software but have lost
lost
o data when migrating
offer internship and technical to the new
n system. 9%
rotation positions to young
engineers and chemists. We are still using the same database w
wee used 10 or more years ago. 18%
We use a notebook database system. 12%
Due to lack of trained and
experienced oil analysis experts, we Other 30%
influence technical schools to
Based on responses sent to 13,000 TLT readers.
provide necessary training classes
related to tribology, chemistry, oil
properties, analysis and results
interpretation. Convincing them of the future need Our industry is not well-known in
for oil products. academia, so most new graduates are
Finding new talent to work in the unfamiliar with the field. We actively
trenches and not wanting to be the The lubrication industry doesn’t participate in on-campus recruiting
next CEO. Being more selective and seem to have the draw to younger to try to cultivate mind-share with
setting expectations earlier in the generations. Better incentives, the upcoming graduating class of
interview process. including pay, would help. students.

We like to say we use superior

Sometimes science to find unique solutions to

solve manufacturing concerns.
chemistry But at the end of the day, our

has nothing business is really a people

business. People talking, people

to do with building trust, people solving

problems. Together. At the end

chemicals. of the day, the difference

is chemistry. The human kind.

THE DIFFERENCE
I S C H E M I S T R Y.™

Want to hear more about

how we work?
Visit us at elcocorp.com
©2017 The Elco Corporation

W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 71

 The cost of training plus the cost of
retaining talent bumps up against
the longevity of the employee. Our
youngsters seem to think in terms
of 2-4 years before moving on.
Availability. Resign yourself to
teaching them.
Humans being replaced by
automated systems. We are joining
the automated race.
They find it is not an interesting
topic. The solution is to show them
simple analysis of oil and the results
of it.
If you need to hire a lubrication
engineering specialist, do you look
for a chemist, chemical engineer or
mechanical engineer? We usually
rely on known academic professors
and programs for candidates, but it
is confusing for HR generalists to
know how to help in recruiting.
Young technical minds are mostly
interested in biomed, nanotech and
exotic fields. We are trying to show
our attempts in utilizing renewable
resources for lubricants. Quite often
young talents become interested in
replacing mineral oils and toxic
components.
One difficulty I see is when talent
does arrive, there are minimal
processes and training to bring the
new person up to speed. This eats
time, and the longer this takes the
more likely they are to leave.
Deficient salaries. We are not
addressing it.
No one knows anything about
lubrication. That and our HR
department wants to have
experienced people. They are afraid
to be responsible for training new
staff and then having them leave.

How does your organization transfer knowledge about condition

monitoring to the next generation of lubrication engineers?
I am still mentoring to a degree, but
in my situation I must protect Who makes
kes decisions
si based
ba on your
y oil analysis reports?
intellectual property. Thus, I don’t
actively market for fear of IP leaks. We rely on the lab’s recommendations.. 6%
O r lab reports
Our p do t incl
don’t include reco
recomme
recommendations,
eenndations,
n so we
Word of mouth and training pro-
rely on our internal experts.
rely p 9%
vided by a lubrication person.
We combine lab reports and our internal experts. 64%
School of hard knocks. Live it and
learn it in the field; train them in We use an intelligent system that tells us
u what to do with the data.
dat . 0%
classes and on-the-job activities. Other 21%
We have to act as a true team Based on responses sent to 13,000 TLT readers.

because we all have different areas of

expertise and must rely on one
another for answers to questions
that we have not previously encoun-
tered ourselves. A new man, as well
as other team members, are con-
stantly accumulating information in
this manner.
We train them ourselves through our
experienced engineers.
Very poorly. They are trained by the
previous lubricator who also was
trained by the previous lubricator.
Our company has invested heavily in
the past 18 months in new training
material that is readily available
online to all our consultants. The
New Year will see an even more
effective online training tool made
available.
We keep written records on nearly
all the tests and procedures. In fact,
we make many of them public by
publishing short articles in confer-
ence proceedings.
Our organization transfers knowl-
edge by arranging conferences and
workshops.
Personal training, on-the-job
learning, best practices and archived
reports.
Utilize current technical experts as
mentors.
Publish papers, educational work-
shops.

72 Variations in braille technology continue growing, including braille computer terminals, RoboBraille email
 Condition monitoring is not a core
business of our company. Neverthe-
less, as our products need to operate
in combination with condition
monitoring sensors, we teach them
how to combine condition monitoring
with automatic lubrication systems.
No organized process other than
word of mouth.
Standardized work documents.
Our department hires and trains new
lubricant engineers in lubricant
condition monitoring.
Senior personnel work with younger
staff prior to retiring.
My organization does not seem to
worry about losing knowledge
gained through experience. They
generally do not make any effort to
have senior members share their
experience. It is up to individuals
who show interest in learning to
carry out this vital function.
Sending personnel with experienced
technicians in the field to learn on
the job.
Hands-on training in the field and
classroom.
Training and transferring informa-
tion as new technologies are em-
ployed.
Hands on training as well as every
Webinar available.
Cooperative efforts, learning from
senior engineers.
Currently everyone is too busy to
be able to have the talks and
learning moments that are key. It is
a “figure it out” mentality culture.
This is fine but takes additional
time, and re-inventing the wheel
can be costly.
Laboratory exercises made by
student directly, such as on the
motor stand.
We don’t do a good job of this.

Editor’s Note: Sounding Board is based on an email survey of 13,000 TLT readers. Views expressed are those of the respondents and do not reflect the opinions of
the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. STLE does not vouch for the technical accuracy of opinions expressed in Sounding Board, nor does inclusion
of a comment represent an endorsement of the technology by STLE.

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77

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marketing strategy. Sea-Land Chemical Co. 33
Your ad message Soltex, Inc. 73
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74 • FEBRUARY 2018 T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY W W W. ST L E .O RG

 You work in a
technical world.
Should you belong to
a technical society?
Keeping current with technical changes in the lubricants
field is a daunting task.
More than 3,000 of your peers have solved this problem by
joining the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers.
STLE is the premier technical organization representing
lubrication professionals and tribology researchers.
Professionals from industry, academia and government join
STLE because they know no organization offers a more
complete look at the field of tribology.
STLE provides the lubricant industry’s highest level of
technical training and professional development. But the
benefits of membership don’t stop there.
STLE membership is a mark of distinction. It confers the seal
of authority on you and your organization and affiliates you
with the world’s leading experts in lubrication.
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society. You belong in STLE.
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STLE is offering a certification exam in March. Here is the information:

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For the online registration form, go to www.stle.org; click on the professional development tab at the top. Then go to
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76 Braille also pursued his lifelong passion for music, becoming an accomplished organist and cellist. In later life, he played the organ in churches all over France.
 STLE LOCAL SECTION MEETING CALENDAR
Events listed here are local section programs. For further details and a full listing of other upcoming section
events in your area, visit www.stle.org. Meeting announcements can be sent to TLT Magazine, Attn: Rachel
Fowler, rfowler@stle.org.

FEBRUARY 2018
STLE Houston Section: Topic and Speaker TBD, Feb. 9, 11 STLE Pittsburgh Section: Surface Roughness (Speaker:
a.m. (registration and networking), 11:30 a.m. (full Tevis Jacobs, University of Pittsburgh), Feb. 20. More
buffet lunch), 12:00 p.m. (business meeting and technical information to come.
presentation), Brady’s Landing Restaurant, 8505 Cypress
St., Houston, Texas. For more information, visit MARCH 2018
www.stlehouston.com/2HoustonSTLE/index.shtml. STLE Houston Section Lube School: Mar. 7, Sasol Chemicals
North America, 12120 Wickchester Ln., Houston, Texas.
STLE Alberta Section: Topic and Speaker TBD, Feb. 12, More information to come.
6 p.m. (hospitality hour), 6:45 p.m. (dinner), 7:30
p.m. (speaker presentation). Contact: Peter Neufeld, STLE Alberta Section: Topic and Speaker TBD, Mar. 12,
pneufeld@suncor.com. 6 p.m. (hospitality hour), 6:45 p.m. (dinner), 7:30
p.m. (speaker presentation). Contact: Peter Neufeld,
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Feb. 15, 11:30 a.m. (registration and networking),
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W W W. ST L E .O RG T R I B O LO GY & LU B R I CAT I O N T EC H N O LO GY FEBRUARY 2018 • 77

CUTTING EDGE
Drs. Wilfred T. Tysoe &
Nicholas D. Spencer

Measuring the brain’s

response to braille friction
By correlating electrical activity with
tribological measurements, researchers are deepening
our understanding of the sensation of touch.

IN 1808 CHARLES BARBIER, A CAPTAIN relating the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of Typical tribological responses found when
IN NAPOLEON’S ARMY, invented so-called the region of the brain that responds to touch, raising and lowering the dots are shown in
“night writing” or sonography to allow troops with the sliding friction of a finger in contact Figure 2, showing a clear change in friction.
to communicate at night without having to with a programmable braille display in which While there was significant variability be-
speak or use lights. He accomplished this by five lines of equidistant dots could be raised tween the results for different participants,
developing a code to represent sounds that or lowered (see Figure 1). the general behavior was similar. The friction
used two columns of six dots embossed on
a square of paperboard. However, the 12 dots
covered an area larger than a fingertip, mak-
ing them difficult to read. This problem was
solved by Louis Braille, who, at the age of 15,
reduced the number of dots to six, and this
represented the letters of the alphabet rather
than sounds. This advance has, of course, sig-
nificantly helped blind people to interact and
communicate.
The problem of a soft fingertip sliding over
an array of raised braille dots is clearly a tri-
bological one, and the physiological response
to changes in the tribological interface is the
subject of the newly emerging field of haptics,
which is becoming ever more important with
the rise of computer touch screens.
However, assessing physiological re-
sponses can be extremely subjective. To
address this problem, professor Roland Ben-
newitz and Novaf Özgün from the INM - Leib-
niz Institute of New Materials in Saarbrücken,
Germany, collaborated with professor Daniel
Strauss from the Systems Neuroscience and
Neurotechnology Unit at Saarland University,
also in Saarbrücken, to directly compare the Figure 1 | (a) Setup for the simultaneous measurement of fingertip friction and EEG signals.
tribological properties of a finger sliding over (b) Fingertip in contact with the braille display. Light contact, one line of dots raised. (c) Firm
an array of dots to the resulting electrical re- contact, one line of dots raised. (d) Intermediate contact, three lines of dots raised. (Pub-
sponse of the brain. This was done by cor- lished with permission from Ref. [1].)

78 Braille died in 1852 at the age of 43 due to tuberculosis. The 200th anniversary of his birth was
 variation was interpreted as being due to
the effects of sliding on the surface of the
braille display and changes caused by interac-
tion with the raised dots. The time constants
for the evolution in friction when raising or
lowering the dots were different. The time
scale when raising the dots is ascribed to the
viscoelastic response of the skin to indenta-
tion by the dots, while the longer time scale
found when lowering the dots is due to the
skin reforming a conformal contact with the
display surface.
The averaged EEGs measured when rub-
bing, while raising and lowering the dots,
are shown in Figure 3, which displays sig-
nificant positive and negative deviations
over the time scale of the friction experi-
ment that are similar when the dots are
raised and lowered. This clear correlation
between the electrical response of the brain
and changes in friction helps avoid the bias
inherent in assessing the human perception
of tribological interfaces.
Eliminating this subjectivity by directly
correlating the brain’s electrical activity with
Figure 2 | Characteristic development of the friction coefficients for two participants. The tribological measurements will put the design
braille dots are raised and lowered at t=0. The curves are averaged over all trials. An exponen-
of haptic interfaces on a firmer footing, lead-
tial approach model has been fitted to the data (red curves) to extract characteristic time
ing to the design of more responsive systems
constants for the evolution of the friction coefficient. (Published with permission from Ref. [1].)
and perhaps even to more easily readable
braille.

FURTHER READING
1. Özgün, N., Straus, D.J. and Bennewitz, R.
(2018), “Tribology of a braille display and
EEG correlates,” Tribology Letters, 66, p. 16.

Eddy Tysoe (left) is a distinguished professor of

physical chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee. You can reach him at wtt@uwm.edu.
Nic Spencer is professor of surface science and
technology at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and
editor-in-chief of STLE-affiliated Tribology Letters
Figure 3 | Grand average of the EEG signals. (Published with permission from Ref. [1].) journal. You can reach him at nspencer@ethz.ch.

recognized throughout the world in 2009 with commemorative coins, stamps and celebrations. 79
AUTOMOTIVE TRIBOLOGY
Dr. Edward P. Becker
Have we finally achieved
variable compression ratio?
Nissan says it will begin offering the new technology
in model year 2018 vehicles.
A FUNDAMENTAL CHOICE when designing a
gasoline (or other spark-ignited fuel) engine
is the compression ratio; that is, the ratio of
the maximum to minimum cylinder volume
during the piston stroke. One of the first im-
mutable facts one learns about engines is
higher compression ratio equals higher effi-
ciency. So our first thought is to maximize
compression ratio.
Unfortunately there are many practical
limits to maximizing compression ratio. The
higher the compression ratio, the higher the
maximum pressure in the cylinder, and there-
fore the more robust (i.e., heavy) the cylinder
components become. Also, as the gas in the
cylinder is compressed, temperature rises.
While this works well for a diesel (or compres-
sion-ignition) engine, it is a major problem for
the spark-ignited engine. If the fuel-air mix-
ture begins to combust spontaneously, a num-
ber of related (and undesirable) phenomena
can result, such as detonation, knock, pre-
ignition and, ultimately, engine failure. For
these and other reasons, the choice of com-
pression ratio for a gasoline engine has been
limited to relatively low values.
Until now, that is. Infiniti (the luxury arm
of Nissan motor company) announced it will
begin offering an engine with a variable com-
pression ratio, beginning in model year 2018.
The basic components of the system are
shown in Figure 1, and Nissan has released a
video1 showing an animation of the system.
Dubbed the VC-Turbo, Nissan claims a one-
mile-per-gallon fuel economy gain and a one-
second improvement in 0-60 mile per hour
performance. This is accomplished by using
the high compression ratio when the engine
is operating at part load (thereby increasing
1
Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WFlvlxIRLI.
80 Helen Keller said of Louis Braille, “In our way, we, the blind, are as indebted to Louis Braille as Mankind is to Gutenberg.”
Difference in piston height
between compression ratios
HIGH
EFFICIENCY
Figure 1 | Infiniti variable compression ratio mechanism.
efficiency) and the lower compression ratio at
full load (thereby improving power output).
Clearly the system adds weight to the en-
gine, but Nissan claims the added efficiency
more than compensates. The additional me-
chanical complexity and number of moving
parts are of interest to the engine tribologist.
Note that the standard piston-rod assembly
has two slider-bearing surfaces, the big end
of the rod (where the motion is full-rotation
unidirectional sliding) and the small end (with
partial rotation, fully reversed sliding). In the
VC-Turbo system there are an additional five
partial rotations, fully reversed sliding bear-
ing surfaces! Two of these only move during
actuation of the VC system, with the other
three in constant motion.
The system is located inside the crank-
LOW
Piston
Upper-link
Multi-link
Crank Shaft
Harmonic
Drive
Control Shaft
Actuator Arm
POWER
case, so a continuous supply of engine oil is
readily available. Apparently the added fric-
tion from these bushing surfaces is manage-
able, and Nissan further claims that piston
side forces are reduced, resulting in a net
decrease in engine friction.
Whether Nissan’s innovation will spark
(pun intended) the competition to implement
its own variable compression ratio schemes
remains to be seen. In any case, this is yet
another example of the evolution of the inter-
nal combustion engine.
Ed Becker is an STLE Fellow and
past president. He is president
of Friction & Wear Solutions,
LLC in Brighton, Mich., and
can be reached through his
website at www.frictionandwearsolutions.com.
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