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Advanced Tribo-Materials for Gears

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 International Conference on Industrial Tribology - 2006

Advanced Tribo-Materials for Gears

K. Mistry a*, A. Morina a, A. Neville a and M. Webster b

a
School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
b
ExxonMobil Strategic Corporate Research, Annandale, New Jersey, 08801, USA
* Author for correspondence: men3km@leeds.ac.uk

ABSTRACT
In the last few decades the world has seen increasing importance given to efficiency and durability of dynamic
systems which are significantly influenced by friction and wear losses respectively. Gears are considered to be a very
important part of dynamic mechanical systems. Moreover to reduce costs for end users higher gear ratios, greater
loads are imposed on gear system, resulting in more severe conditions for gear operation. Numerous coated surfaces
have been suggested and implemented for gears to provide resistance against wear, pitting and fatigue under severe
conditions.
The present work will review the conditions in which gears operate, the limitations of gears and various coatings
employed for gears which have evolved in the past few years including; nitrides, borides, carbides, MoS2 and
Diamond like carbon (DLC) coatings. The paper will consider their durability in gear applications and importantly
how lubricants can affect the coating performance in terms of friction and wear control.
KEY WORDS: Gear, tribology, lubricant, coatings, interaction

INTRODUCTION result in low sliding friction but the limitation in the

Surface engineering has made a big contribution in the
field of tribology. Low friction and low wear rates are
often achieved solely by the advances in surface
technologies. In the present work, factors involved in
gear durability are reviewed in relation to the selection
of advanced tribo-materials and lubrication of these
materials.
GEAR TRIBOLOGY
There is a considerable difference between the
tribology of gear drives and the tribology of
hydrodynamic journal and roller bearings primarily
because the lubricating conditions vary in the toothed
wheels.
Figure 1: A. Journal bearing contact, B. Roller bearing
contact, C. Gear contact [1]
As shown in Figure 1 the lubrication conditions in the
gear tooth contacts are more difficult to define than
journal or roller bearings. In journal bearings the
surface pressure is low and has a good conformity
which helps in lubrication while the disadvantage is
high friction at low speeds, so the remedial action can
be good material selection to achieve good sliding
characteristics. In the case of roller bearings there is
poor conformity between the contact surfaces and this
roller bearings is high surface pressure [1].
In the case of gear drives, there is poor conformity
between contact surfaces which leads to application of
high pressure on the tooth surfaces while the friction is
high due to the high sliding component as the gear
meshes at the addendum and dedendum of the tooth.
Also, materials cannot simply be replaced with surfaces
with good sliding characteristics as the gear teeth are
subjected to high pressures for entire cycles – which
means that the tribology of gear drives has a
combination of limitations seen in journal bearings and
roller bearings [1, 2]. In addition in bearings there is
continuous lubrication, there is a separation and load -
bearing oil film; while, in the case of gear drives there
is discontinuous lubrication film under high pressure
conditions where the lubrication reforms with every
tooth engagement [1, 2, 3].
Gearing is an important part of many mechanical
systems from aerospace to submarines, from high-speed
automation to heavy duty industries. The main function
of the gear is to transmit the load and speed in the
system, without deteriorating the surface finish or gear
contour and withstanding the harsh conditions like high
pressures, high temperatures, high speed, humid and
corrosive environments, etc. The conditions of the gear
based on mainly two applications: industrial and
automotive applications [1, 2, 3].
The typical conditions found in industrial gearing
applications are: Pressure ~ 1.5 GPa, Temperature 80 –
110º C, Speed 500 – 2500 rpm while, the typical
conditions exposed to automotive gears are: Pressure ~
1.0 GPa, Temperature 70 – 150º C, Speed 700 – 10,000
rpm. Based on these service conditions gears are
subjected to many failure mechanisms [2, 4, 5].
GEAR FAILURES b) Pitting:
Pitting is the damage caused by endurance failure
Gears, due to limitation of contact geometry and
of surface cracks resulting due to micro-pitting on the
exposure to severe conditions, are subjected to various
surface during cyclic stresses on the gear tooth surface.
failure mechanisms. The failures caused due to
It is commonly observed at the highly loaded area i.e.
tribological concerns are:
PCD of gear [1, 3]. Lubricant with low and consistent
• Wear: Continuous material wear
viscosity with respect to temperature helps to alterate
• Scuffing and Scoring: Sudden material wear pitting damage.
• Fatigue: Micro-Pitting, Pitting and Spalling
• Tooth Fracture
Wear:
The damage on the middle sector of the tooth flank
occurs at low circumferential velocities mainly due to
continuous wear. It is highly influenced by lubricant
and hardness of the tooth. Anti-wear additives and high
viscosity lubricants can have a positive effect on wear
load capacity which is discussed later [1, 3].
Scuffing and scoring:
Scuffing and scoring are damage mechanisms Figure 4: Pitting [1]
caused to gear teeth surfaces during contact under high
temperature, and high loading conditions causing c) Spalling:
welded joints and this weld joint breaks immediately Spalling is one of the most destructive modes of
due to high relative velocity (Figure 2). Lubricant with gear failure caused due to propagation of fatigue cracks
extreme pressure additives improves the scuffing load beneath the surface of the pitch line of a gear tooth
capacity is explained in gear lubricants [1, 2, 3]. (Figure 5). Because stress intensity factors (SIF) of the
subsurface get lower than the critical SIF, crack
ligaments collapse at crack tips as the cause of spalling
from subsurface cracks [7].

Figure 2: Scuffing and Scoring [1]

Fatigue:
The damage caused due to microscopic cracking of
materials after repeated applications of stress is due to
fatigue. Commonly observed fatigue failures in gear
applications are: micro-pitting, pitting and spalling.
a) Micro-Pitting:
Micro-Pitting is damage caused due to cyclic
stresses which causes endurance failure microscopically
at the negative sliding velocities or slip areas generally
above and below PCD (pitch circle diameter) of gear
(Figure 3) [1, 6]. It is positively influenced by good
surface finish, lubricant and temperature. A high
viscosity lubricant with viscosity index improver
additive improves micro-pitting load capacity [1, 3].
Figure 3: Micro-Pitting [1]
Figure 5: Spalling [7]
d) Tooth Fracture:
Tooth fracture is the gross failure at pre-damaged
surface caused by micro-pitting or due to over heating
of lubricant/gear surfaces during high loading condition
[1].
The choice of the gear materials depends basically on
the tribological requirements, methods of
manufacturing and likely total cost. The present work
focuses mainly on the tribological consideration as it is
of great importance and is a primary consideration for
material selection [8].
GEAR MATERIALS
For typical gear applications high pressures are to
be withstood and so relatively hard materials are
required to carry the load without surface deformation
and fatigue stress. The two important material
properties required from gear surfaces are: adequate
strength to carry the load and adequate resistance to
surface fatigue during bearing load [8].
Over the past few decades commonly used treated
materials for manufacturing gears were: Forged steels,
hardened alloy steels; surface hardened steels for heavy of gear contact [2, 4, 5]. It was been reported coatings
duty industries; carburized steels for heavy duty of low thickness (0.25µm) function better for a gear
automotive applications; nitrided steels and carbo- contact under severe conditions. While it was
nitrided steels for heavy duty industries, automotive and published that high coating thickness is responsible
marine applications. Commonly used surface treatments large initial spalling, this is detrimental for coating
were: Phosphating for improving scuffing resistance; performance [51].
Tuffriding for fatigue and wear resistance, Sulfinuzing The other nitride coatings are TiAlN, BN, CrN, C-
and Noskuffing to improve wear resistance, fatigue BN mainly because of high wear resistance [12,17,18].
strength and anti scuffing properties [8].
Carbide coatings:
With advances in materials technology and surface
engineering, improved surface coatings have been Carbide coatings have characteristics of high hardness,
introduced which provide better wear resistance, high melting point and low sliding friction behaviour
scuffing resistance, friction properties, high strength against interacting themselves. Some of the well
and corrosive resistance. The surface coatings explored carbide coatings are TiC, BC, WC, CrC but
developed recently for various ferrous and non-ferrous the discussion will be limited to TiC coatings. TiC (3.5
materials are: Borides, Nitrides, Carbides, MoS2 GPa) has even higher hardness than TiN (2 GPa), while
coatings, and Diamond-like-Carbon (DLC) coatings. due to formation of low shear strength oxide layer it has
The present study will limit itself to discussion of co-efficient of friction of 0.15 and very low wear [18,
coatings for ferrous materials only. 21, 52]. Generally hard coatings are not found suitable
for gear application due to concern of fatigue failure
It has been reported that thin hard coatings on a
which is influenced by adhesion of coating with
relatively soft and tough substrate provide good
substrate. Due to the severe working conditions, severe
tribological properties. Hard coatings provide good
stresses are developed due to the soft substrate and hard
abrasive and erosive wear resistance as they protect the
coatings but, TiC coatings have excellent adhesion to
coated surface from scratching by wear debris or hard
the substrate which takes care of stresses. It has also
counterparts at high temperatures [9].
been reported that low coating thickness provides good
Boride coatings: rolling fatigue resistance and spalling resistance [14].
Boride coatings have good abrasive wear resistance due
Soft coatings are quite popular in gear applications and
to very high hardness [10,11]. However, they have
often comprise lamellar solid coatings. The lamellar
peculiar tribological properties of low wear and high
solids, generally found are metal dichalcogenides and
friction characteristics. Titanium borides (TiB) and iron
graphite [9, 22,23,25].
borides (FeB) are the commonly used boride coatings,
where the FeB has a lower wear rate and lower friction MoS2 and WS2 Coatings:
compared to TiB while, TiB operates better over a
The crystal structure of a metal dichalcogenide
range of high temperatures compared to FeB [10].
species is shown in Figure 6, having a compound
Nitride coatings: formula AB2 (where A is metal Mo, W or Nb and B is
non metal S or Se) [25]. Metal dichalcogenide have a
TiN is one of the most explored and popular hard
characteristic anisotropic layered molecular structure
coatings mainly because of inherent properties like high
with individual sheets of metal sandwiched between
hardness, good adhesion to substrate and good chemical
two anionic planes of non metal atoms with strong
stability [12,13]. High hardness of the coating is
covalent metal–anion bonds. These molecules line up to
responsible for the good abrasive and erosive wear
form a hexagonal crystal structure through weak Van-
resistance of TiN coatings [14,21]. Abrasive resistance
der-Waals bonds with adjacent molecules. Metal
also depends on good adhesion to the steel substrate,
dichalcogenides are excellent solid lubricants as they
load carrying capacity, coating methods apart from
have graphite-like structure with weak inter-layer
coating hardness while, erosive resistance depends
bonding, which facilitates the shear when the direction
mainly on hardness of coating/substrate composite
of sliding is parallel to these planes of the materials
system [15,16,17,18,19,20].
[9,23,25].
The co-efficient of friction for a TiN – steel sliding
contact is higher than TiN - TiN/TiC sliding contact
[12]. There is formation of a low strength oxide layer
(TiO2) on the coating; this oxide layer helps in shear
during sliding of surface while load is supported by the
coating, this phenomenon is responsible for low friction
between TiN - TiN/TiC sliding interface [18]. It has
also been reported that smooth sliding surfaces are one
of the most important factors responsible for low
friction while more debris on the wear track is
responsible for high friction. The lowest friction co-
efficient was reported as 0.05 by Singer [50]. Figure 6: Metal dichalcogenides [25]
The severe conditions like high pressure, high Humidity has an adverse effect on MoS2 as the
speed, sliding and rolling contact are the characteristics humid conditions are responsible for oxidation of
MoS2. It was been reported that for identical working
conditions, the life of a MoS2 coating in dry conditions
is 100,000 - 300,000 revolutions while in humid
conditions the life of MoS2 reduces to 700 - 900
revolutions.
It was also reported by Roberts [53] that rougher
surfaces have lower friction and higher life than
smoother surfaces. It was found that a MoS2 coating
with Ra 0.12µm had friction reduction from 0.02 to 0.01
and lasted for 250,000 revolutions while a coating with
Ra 0.04µm had friction rise from 0.02 to 0.04 and life of
the coating reduced to 20,000 revolutions. The reason
for this unique behaviour was because the rougher the
surface – the more the volume of MoS2 this means
higher concentration of lubricating surface film, low
friction and low wear [53]. It was also been reported
that rougher surfaces induce frictional heating and
reduces the humid conditions, that deteriorate the
coating life [54].
Also it was reported that friction properties of
MoS2 coatings depends on the S/Mo ratio [25]. The co-
efficient of friction for MoS2 coating was 0.025 for
S/Mo ratio of 1.5-1.6 and with increase or decrease of
this ratio the co-efficient of friction goes high to 0.06.
Also, the properties of MoS2 coatings can be improved
by using thin coatings and hard interlayers.
WS2 can be either dispersed into liquid lubricants,
like graphite, to reduce the friction and wear between
moving surfaces; or used as a solid lubricant by itself.
WS2 functions effectively as a lubricant in air and inert
gases as well as in high vacuum over a high
temperature range so; it overcomes the limitation
problem in graphite.
One of the reasons for the superior tribological
behaviour reported by Selvi [25] was that there was
significant increase in ratio of axial reduction. During
pressure application the compression ratio
((dc/c)/(da/a)) was 3.3 on the crystal structure and this
larger compression was due to weak Van-der-waal
forces. This phenomenon has a positive influence on
the low friction behaviour of WS2 and MoS2 [25].
Figure 7: Factors influencing performance of DLC
DLC:
Diamond-like-carbon coatings (DLC) are currently
popular having seen an increase in adaptation in the
past decades [27, 28, 45]. DLC coatings offer a wide
range of physical, mechanical and tribological
properties that make them attractive for numerous
industrial applications [28]. Tribologically DLC
coatings provide low friction and wear coefficients,
they are extremely hard with excellent chemical
inertness, which makes them corrosion and oxidation
resistant. These facts, makes them popular in numerous
industrial applications, from mechanical to electronics,
optical to bio-medical applications [27, 34, 42, 44].
DLC coatings are made of sp2 and sp3 bonded carbon
atoms with infinitesimal sp1 [29]. The relative proportion
of sp2 versus sp3 bonded carbon atoms varies extensively
from one DLC coating to another. DLC with a high
proportion of sp2-bonded carbon atoms tend to be
relatively soft and behave more like graphite during
tribological tests, while films with more sp3 bonded
carbons are more like diamond, and hence they are super
hard and provide impressive tribological properties [27,
28].
DLC coatings show thermodynamically metastable
behaviour in dry sliding conditions. With the increase
of temperature, the crystalline graphitic transfer layer is
formed by a sp3 → sp2 phase transformation [48]. At
contact asperities due to a rise in temperature, the
formation of a graphitized tribo-layer results and steady
state low friction of DLC in ambient conditions is often
seen [49].
The mechanical, electrical, optical and tribological
properties of DLC depend on the type of carbon source
being used during the film deposition, the deposition
method, the type of bond that hold carbon atoms
together in DLC as it affects the structural chemistry of
the resultant coatings. The present work will confine
itself mainly on tribological aspects of DLC coatings.
The factors which influence the tribological properties
like friction, wear, hardness are presented in Figure 7.
 The tribo-performance of DLC coatings is
dependent on the intrinsic and the extrinsic properties
compromising the method of deposition, carbon used,
doping and mechanical, physical properties
respectively. The discussion on method of deposition
and carbon used is not included here as the paper is
confined to tribological aspects of surface engineered
coatings. Mechanical properties like roughness and
third body (wear debris) has significant influence on
performance of DLC coatings as for any coatings. It is
well-known that in general rougher surfaces have
higher friction and wear losses, as has been well
reported in various literatures [58, 62]. This roughness
of coatings depends on the smoothness of substrate and
equally on method of coating deposition [59]. Also, the
roughness of coating is influenced by subsequent wear
mechanisms such as polishing wear during sliding
contact improves the surface roughness; while spalling
wear deteriorates the surface finish [58, 59, 63]. The
PLD (pulse laser deposited) and PVD (plasma vapor
deposition) rejects the nano and micro particle droplets
of carbon source on substrate which can results in high
friction and wear losses. The debris particles produced
during the sliding contact get trapped between the
sliding counterfaces and undergo mechanically grinding
which influences friction behaviour of the surface.
These debris particles generally have disordered micro-
structure. It was been reported by Havert [57] that
formation of these debris depends on contact forces and
speed. The higher the load and speed, disordered
microstructure of debris like disordered graphite debris
is observed. The lower the load and speed, fibre-like
debris is produced which resembles graphite like debris.
To summarize mechanical properties were found to
have vital influence on DLC performance.
Also, physical properties like temperature and
lubrication are reported to have significant influence as
it is known that high temperature exposure of DLC
transforms the highly disordered state to graphitic –
ordered state. It is mainly because of higher
temperature providing external thermal energy to
thermodynamically unstable DLC to re-arrange and
form stable, soft and ordered graphite like state which
wears out quickly and results in low friction. Also,
tribochemical reactions on DLC are found to be
influenced by temperature, but its not established
whether tribochemical reactions are stimulated by
triboelectrons, produced during the tribo-emission due
to temperature as found in steel [60, 64]. Adhesion
between counterfaces of sliding DLC is also reported to
influence friction. Adhesion depends on the type of
bonding. As covalent bonds are the strongest bond in
carbon coatings and these covalent bonds are
influenced by temperature, sliding and humid
conditions. The lubrication is also reported to have vital
impact discussed and elaborated in detail in later topics
[60, 63, 64, 65]. Thus discussion ends up outlining
influence of physical parameters.
Doped DLC
DLC coatings having numerous modifications in
their microstructure and chemistry have seen increasing
popularity and diverse applications [27]. It has been
reported in several literatures that doped DLC with
certain metals, metalloids and non-metals has become
popular for diverse applications. Metals like Ti, Cr, Fe,
W, Mo; metalloids like B, Si and finally non-metals: S
and N are explored and experimented for doped DLC
coatings. It has also been reported that compared with
undoped DLC, doped DLC provides superior
mechanical, tribological, thermal and electrical
properties [27, 30, 31, 32, 35].
Nitrogen is a popular non-metal dopant for DLC;
as Nitrogenated DLC, carbon nitride DLC (CN-DLC)
provides significantly higher hardness and superior
tribological performance under dry sliding - friction
coefficients less than 0.01 [27, 35-39]. It was recently
reported by Kato et al. that CN-DLC provides hardness
values much greater than that of natural diamond [27,
34, 41]. CN-DLC possesses the impressive mechanical,
tribological and corrosion properties which are popular
in application of magnetic hard disc applications [27,
40].
Metal doped DLC; Si-DLC had performed well
working in severe conditions under ZDDP-containing
oil lubrication [46]. Low friction and high wear
resistance was achieved, and the presence of oxides
ZnO, sulphides ZnS, FeS, FeS2 and phosphates FePO4
on the reaction layers were considered influential, when
analysed on XPS. It was also reported by Ban [27, 46]
that higher doping of Si in DLC reduces friction.
Metal doping in DLC reduces and maintains low
friction and wear, improves durability and reliability
under severe operating conditions. Metal doping in
DLC forms metal carbides which improve the strength
of DLC since they are formed in the defective parts of
the cross linked carbon network of DLC. Ti-DLC and
W-DLC are popular metal dopants in the group [61].
Ti-DLC show superior performance over Mo-DLC, Fe-
DLC and undoped DLC under lubricated conditions as
Ti-DLC forms low a shear strength friction layer from
MoDTC and ZDDP additives which results in highest
wear resistance and lowest friction coefficients [61].
The reason for superior performance was analyzed
using Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopic (SIMS)
analysis and more adsorbed extreme pressure agent was
observed on the Ti-DLC than on the undoped-DLC.
In research carried out by Podgornik [42] to test
W-DLC interacting with PAO containing with EP
additive it was found that W-DLC gives a high
reduction in friction compared to DLC under lubricated
sliding conditions. The reason for this superior
tribological behaviour is due to the formation of low
friction WS2 type tribofilms on their sliding surfaces. It
has been shown that S from the EP additives reacts with
the W, transferred from the W-DLC coating, and forms
WS2 tribofilm, providing low friction behavior and
excellent running-in characteristics of W-DLC.
It can be summarized from the discussion about
doped DLC that Si, Ti and W doped DLC coatings
provide better friction, low wear and higher scuffing
resistance working in severe contact pressures under
sliding lubricated conditions [42, 45, 46]. Besides that,
in comparison to the tribological performance of non-
metal doped DLC, metal doped DLC consistently
showed superior performance in boundary lubrication
conditions using oil containing both ZDDP and
MoDTC. It is clear from the above discussions; the
presence of dopants in DLC films can definitely
improve tribological performance of coatings.
Gear lubricants have an important function to
protect the gear and its surface, either by forming a
fluid film to keep the surfaces separate or by forming
chemical film on surface to provide boundary
protection at extreme pressure or by adsorption of
additives on sliding surfaces [26]. In this study the
focus is in boundary lubrication where chemical
reactions at the interface occur to provide a tribofilm.
GEAR LUBRICANTS
The main function of the gear is to transmit the
load and speed in the mechanical system, without
deteriorating the surface finish or gear contour and
withstanding the harsh conditions [1]. As gear surfaces
are subjected to high loads, due to high temperature and
high pressure conditions the gears need to be designed
to withstand these harsh conditions. To provide wear
resistance (AW) and extreme pressure (EP) protection
to gears under severe conditions gear lubricants need to
play a major role [65, 67, 70].
The gear lubricants commonly used can be
classified as: lubricating oils, lubricating greases, solid
lubricants, adhesive lubricants and emulsions; but the
present work will be restricted to assessment of
lubricating oils. Apart from the primary functions of
gear lubricating oils such as AW, EP characteristics,
friction performance, scoring performance and better
running in characteristics, lubricant oils also need to
provide general stability, oxidative stability, optimal
temperature–viscosity characteristics, low friction and
resistance to form-formation.
Generally a gear lubricant is a blend of a base oil
and an additive system. Base oils can be mineral or
synthetic oils. Presently synthetic oils are quite popular
and commonly used because of better thermal and
oxidative stability, viscosity and flow characteristics
and the legislation in the developed countries has
influenced the lubricant formulation due to
environmental protection and disposal [1, 66, 67, 68,
69]. This factor has a negative influence on usage of
mineral oil therefore, today synthetic and ester based
oils are used more than in the past. The present study is
mainly confined to synthetic lubricants as gear base
oils.
The commonly used synthetic oils for gear
applications are: Polyalphaolefins (PAO), synthetic
esters and polyglycols.
Polyalphaolefins, commonly known as PAO is a
lubricant base stock of hydrogenated oligomer of olefin.
PAO are have excellent physical, chemical and thermo-
oxidative properties over wide operating temperature
range with limitations of high cost, corrosive behaviour
and low polarity [66, 68, 70].
Synthetic esters have found wide range of application
from automotives to industries and aviation to domestic
usage mainly because of high thermal stability,
solvency, high polarity, biodegradabilities, low toxity
and clean emissions. Ester based oil used with PAO
helps in improving thermal oxidation stability [68, 70].
Polyglycol is extensively used as a gear oil apart from
hydraulic fluids application. It has superior qualities
compared to other synthetic oils, with wide viscosity
range, excellent thermal stability, good lubricity and
shear stability, non-corrosive and low toxicity[68, 70].
These base oils are blended with different additives
to achieve better properties in gear lubricants. Some of
the commonly used additives for gear applications are:
EP additives provide resistance to the surface from
extreme pressure. The commonly used EP additive are
sulphur and phosphorous based additives like alkyl
amine phosphates, alkyl phosphate ester acid,
sulphurized iso butylene and these help to improve the
scuffing load and provide wear resistance against
extreme pressures [67, 70].
AW additives: Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) is
an anti-wear additive considered as the most successful
anti-wear additive ever invented. Apart from the anti-
wear performance, ZDDP has excellent extreme
pressure and anti-oxidant properties [67, 70]. ZDDP are
classified mainly in primary or secondary alkyl ZDDPs
which have medium and low thermal stability
respectively along with medium and high anti-wear
property respectively. ZDDP has been investigated and
proven to be beneficial as an anti-wear additive on steel
but its anti-wear performance on advanced tribo-
materials are yet to be well investigated and proven.
Anti-oxidants additives improve the oxidation stability
of lubricant, which reduces the aging of the oil,
influenced by change in viscosity and increase of acid
number [70].
Corrosion inhibitors are very important for industrial
gears as the gears in industry are exposed to severe
corrosion, which results in quick failure [70]. Metal
passivating corrosion inhibitors are responsible for
passivating the exposed surface of metals forming
highly efficient passivating films or by acting as a
sulphur scavenger, building sulfur bonds on the metal
surface [70]. The commonly used metal passivators are:
thiadiazole, benotriazole, mercaptobenzothiazole.
For any efficient gearing system not only individual
performance of lubricant and material is required, but
the combined performance of interaction of lubricant
and coating is required for achieving successful
performance.
PERFORMANCE OF OIL LUBRICATED
ADVANCED TRIBO-MATERIALS FOR GEARS
The failure mechanisms of gear surfaces are
strongly influenced by the regime of lubrication and
therefore, the selection of material combinations,
surface properties and lubricants for gear applications
must consider aspects such as film formation, removal
and interaction.
In Asia, the work carried out by Li [71] and
Ouyang [72] focused on the role of tribochemistry
influencing friction and wear performance of DLC
under various conditions and detailed the performance
of Ti-DLC under lubricated conditions. It was been
reported by Li [71] that hydrogenation of DLC plays an
important role in friction and wear performance as
hydrogenated DLC performs better in dry conditions
than wet conditions while the opposite characteristics
were observed for hydrogen-free DLC under similar
conditions. Ouyang [72] highlighted the influence and
performance of various coatings reported around the
world and concluded that metal doped DLC (Me-DLC)
works in severe and lubricated conditions compared to
undoped DLC. It was also stated that the higher the
temperature the lower the friction is but the increase in
wear can be explained by the influence of
graphitization. However, at a higher temperature of
150ºC the Ti-DLC was severely destroyed due to brittle
fracture, delamination of coating caused by partial
graphitization and tribochemical reactions on the
surface.
In North America, the researches were more
focused on wearing mechanism and material removal of
DLC coatings for gear. Mercer [73] reported their
findings on explaining reasons for better performance
of W-DLC under lubricated conditions. Their study
made clear that W-DLC helps in the running-in period
and reduces friction due to a polishing mechanism at
the inter-columnar gaps. This also helps in super-
finishing of the surface due to gradual polishing of
counter-surfaces which prevents spalling and scoring of
surface failures and later helps in maintaining low
friction during steady state conditions.
Zhang [76] in his research used nano-indentation,
acoustic microscopy and photoacoustic methods to
characterize the density and modulus of elasticity of Cr-
DLC and W-DLC. He found that W-DLC (~125 GPa,
7000-8000 kg/m3) has higher density and higher
young’s modulus than Cr-DLC (50–90 GPa, 2000-3000
kg/m3). Clearly W-DLC was found to be a better
coating in terms of strength than Cr-DLC. This fact was
also supported by research carried out by Wang, Yao
and Mercer [75, 74, 73].
In a comparison carried out by Wang [75] on
material removal mechanisms due to wear in Metal
doped DLC, he found W-DLC coatings were resistant
to spalling mechanisms while spalling was prevalent in
the Cr-DLC coating. It was also reported that
parameters like magnitude of the residual compression,
modulus of elasticity and toughness of the Me-DLC
coating plays an important part in the occurrence of
spalling. The residual compression stresses were lower
in W-DLC than in Cr-DLC. These compression
stresses are also influenced by imperfections, consisting
of ridges created by surface grinding. Also, the
spalling-resistant behaviour of W-DLC was supported
by Zhang’s argument of W-DLC having higher density
and modulus of elasticity [76].
In tests carried out by Yao [74] the wear
mechanism of W-DLC in contact with steel contact
operated under oil lubrication was explained. He
explained the contrasting spalling wear mechanism
observed in his research compared to the polishing wear
mechanism observed by Mercer [73]. Yao [74]
observed that protrusions of the steel surface penetrated
the W-DLC coating on the mating surface due to their
high hardness and created plastic grooves with ridges
and valleys along the translation direction on the W-
DLC surface. Under the severe contact test conditions
(3.2 GPa, 0.55 m/s) median and lateral cracks were
observed on the W-DLC coating, because of its low
toughness and moderate hardness. The lateral cracks
created spalls, increased material removal rate and
induced more spalls regardless of the initial smoothness
of the W-DLC. The lateral extension of the cracks, once
formed, is enhanced by the relatively low toughness of
the W-DLC coating. All these analyses leads to the
implication that W-DLC coatings only have enhanced
durability when both of the contacting surfaces are
coated.
A lotof research has been carried out on advanced
materials for gears in the European countries. These
research activities are highlighted in the present topic to
give an idea about the current focus of research, which
is mainly on advanced materials as a remedial solution
for failures induced in gear operating condition.
In a review carried out on surface treatment for
various automotive applications, Vetter [77] covered
many automotive applications from piston assembly
parts to automotive transmission parts. It was reported
in their article that metal doped DLC coatings for gear
applications provide pitting-free gear tooth surfaces
even at high bearing load (2 GPa) and a large number
of cycles. These characteristics of coatings can help to
minimize the lubrication requirements.
In other research carried out by Alanou [78] the
influence of DLC on scuffing performance was
reported based on a lot of experimentation on the high
speed twin disc machine. Alanou [78] found that
coatings on a nitrided surface perform far better than
case carburized coatings in terms of friction and
scuffing performance (factor of 2 at low speed). Also,
super finishing improves the scuffing performance in
terms of increasing scuffing load capacity (overall by
factor of 2), while it also reduces friction and operating
temperature. This reduction in friction is also
influenced by graphitization of DLC during initial
running in period at high contact pressure conditions.
However, there was evidence of delamination of DLC
coatings, the reason explained was due to elastic
mismatch between DLC and the steel substrate which
leads to flaking and delamination stresses [78].
In an analysis by Strondl [81], it was reported that
homogenous coatings with uniformly distributed nano
crystallites provides better wear resistance and good
impact fatigue while, multilayered W-DLC coatings
normally possess better impact fatigue and poor
hardness and abrasive wear. Strondl replaced in his
experiment nano inclusions of carbides to stacks of
carbide layers and found improvement in wear
resistance and fatigue resistance.
Fretting corrosion and fretting fatigue failure of
gears was highlighted by Tsypak [79] in an analysis of
gear drives under normal operating conditions. The
fatigue stresses caused initiation of pits on the low
hardness surface and there pits are initiated fretting
corrosion due to impact vibrations/displacements under
high contact pressure. It was found in the chemical test
that a lot of oxide film was found due to fretting
corrosion which covered the pits. More of these fretting
fatigue failures are discussed later on in the work by
Kalin [83].
Holmberg [82] made a point in one of his articles
about variation in friction behaviour of DLC in oil
lubricated conditions, Ti-DLC showed increase in
friction under lubricated conditions compared to dry
conditions but on the other hand a-DLC showed lowest
friction under EP-additivated oil lubrication. The reason
for high friction may be prevention of tribolayer under
oil lubricated conditions for Ti-DLC. More reviews of
articles showing superior DLC performance better
under oil lubrication are explained later [42, 45, 83-86].
The scuffing performance of metal dichalcogenides
coatings was discussed by Amaro [23] along with other
tribological properties. MoS2 coatings as discussed
earlier are characterized to have low friction properties,
but it was reported by Amaro and Martins [23, 80] that
MoS2 coatings had even good hardness and were able
to withstand high contact pressure (> 1.5 GPa) due to
good adhesion of substrate. Moreover it was also
reported testing on the FZG test rig that scuffing
performance increases (more than 2 times) and also
overall efficiency of gear box increased (< 1%). MoS2
coatings were reported to have high wear volume
compared to steel gears or uncoated gears.
In a quest to find the suitable lubricant and
behaviour of DLC coated surfaces under boundary
lubricated conditions, it is evident from the various
published articles that Slovenia has an extensive
contribution in this field.
Recently Kalin [83] reported his research carried
out to assess the influence of DLC coatings on fretting
fatigue. Fretting fatigue failure can be observed in the
gears when vibrations are subjected along with cyclic
loads on gear surfaces. Fretting fatigue is influenced by
friction and wear debris between the counter surfaces.
Kalin carried out tests replicating gear operating
conditions under severe boundary lubrication regime at
high pressure and a range of sliding speeds in oil
lubricated conditions. It was found that DLC/DLC
provides very good resistance to fretting fatigue under
lubricated conditions along with low friction and low
wear; the reason given for the superior behaviour was
elimination of adhesive wear and debris transfer which
prevented interlocking of surfaces. It was also been
reported that at high higher fatigue stresses DLC/DLC
was prone to spallation on its surface but at low fatigue
stress and high amplitudes the surfaces had no wear and
performed far better than uncoated surfaces and
DLC/steel surfaces which had clear smears and pits.
Various coated surfaces like DLC, Si-DLC, Ti-
DLC, W-DLC against steel and steel/steel surface were
tested by Vercammen [45] with various lubricants like
mineral oil, unsaturated and saturated ester, sunflower
oil with and without AW and EP additives. It was
reported that the DLC surface performed very well
under severe loaded conditions during the test on the
ball on disc test rig mainly due to low friction in the
running-in period having a beneficial effect on thermal
degradation of biodegradable oils. It was also found
that wear was as low as 1 x 10-19 m3/Nm during
lubricated conditions which was more influenced by
coatings and no influence of additivated oils was
reported. Other facts which were disclosed in the
research was that delamination and coating damage is
not only dependent on adhesion properties but also on
mechanical properties.
Kalin [84] also reported tribological behaviour of
various surfaces like steel/steel, DLC/steel and
DLC/DLC (undoped and W- doped) interacting with
the mineral oils, bio-degradable ester and sunflower
oils; with and without EP and AW additives. The test
was carried out on SRV tester at high pressure and high
temperature under boundary lubrication conditions.
Kalin established that the lowest wear was observed for
steel/steel contact using mineral oils containing
additives while the lowest friction was found for
undoped DLC/DLC contact for mineral oils and bio-
degradable oils. DLC/DLC performed better with low
wear and friction interacting with polar biodegradable
oils compared to mineral oils which confirmed the fact
that unsaturated molecules and polar components
increases lubricity for non-reactive surfaces like DLC.
Also, the tribochemical layers formed by mineral oils
smeared off and deformed compared to protective
tribochemical layer formed by additivated polar oils.
Apart from all there findings it was also reported by
Kalin that W-DLC/W-DLC reduced wear by up to
80% while non doped DLC had wear reduction of 60%
using EP additivated oil while 30% of friction co-
efficient was lower in DLC using polar oils than
mineral oils.
Kalin [85] highlighted the concern over application
of bio-degradable oils commercially, although bio-
degradable oils are expensive and environmentally
friendly, their limitation of oxidation stability under
operating temperature is a constraint. Under this
situation DLC can provide benefit due to low friction
characteristics of DLC. There is low frictional heating
which lowers operating temperature and thus it prevents
early oil degradation. Various material combinations
W-DLC coated, uncoated and coated and uncoated
(mixed) were tested for pinion and gear wheel samples
and their influence on frictional heating and frictional
characteristics were analysed. It was reported from FZG
testing using bio-degradable EP and AW additivated
oils that: steel coupling had lowest wear but very high
frictional heating, while the W-DLC/W-DLC had
higher wear than steel but gave the lowest oil
temperature rise which helps in reducing oil
degradation for pressures as high as 1.4GPa. On
application of higher pressure on coated samples there
is high wear, which leads to higher coating failure so,
there is no influence to control oil heating. Mixed
samples had highest wear and higher oil temperature
than other combinations for applications at pressures of
more than 1 GPa. Scuffing marks were not observed
which means that DLC has good anti-scuffing
properties and prevents adhesive wear. It clarifies that
DLC can provide a good balance using bio-degradable
oils to inhibit corrosion and lowering friction under
severe gear operating conditions.
In research carried out by Podgornik [45] testing
W-DLC interacting EP-additivated PAO under high
contact pressure, surprisingly WS2 tribofilms were
observed which helped to reduce friction by 50%. PAO
with 2.5% sulphur-based EP additive gave lowest
friction for both W-DLC/W-DLC and W-DLC/steel
combinations. Also, it was observed that EP additives
improved the friction behaviour for W-DLC than AW
additives due to tribofilms formed by the EP additives.
Wear was highest for steel/steel combination lubricated
by EP additives while, wear was lowest for mixed
combinations i.e. W-DLC/steel. The reason given for
low friction behaviour of the W-DLC and steel
interaction was WS2 tribofilms formed behaving
similarly to MoS2 tribofilms formed by MoDTC and
steel interactions. However, high concentration of EP
additive and presence of AW additive (P based)
increased the friction because of formation of sulphur
and phosphorous rich tribo-films which work well to
reduce wear for steel/steel contact but fail to work on
some inert DLC surfaces.
In another similar detailed research carried out by
Podgornik [86] more recently, he found influence of
variation of load on performance of W-DLC under
similar conditions to those discussed before [45]. He
explained the detailed reason for occurrence of
tribofilms. The WS2 tribofilms were explained in detail
with discussion around the presence of S based EP
additives reacting with a W transfer layer of W-DLC
and this forms lamellar WS2 tribofilms on steel
substrate, depending on the concentration of EP
additive and density. With higher concentrations of EP
additives formation of WS2 tribofilms is suppressed
while lower concentration of EP additives increases the
response time to form WS2 tribofilms.
Based on these review in the present topic it was
realized that DLC coatings even though having inert
behaviour are able to prevent surface from various
failures and its behaviour under oil lubricated condition
is more understood.
DISCUSSION SUMMARY
In the present paper the contact mechanisms of
gears were introduced to explain the tribology,
lubrication and operating conditions in gears. The gear
failures commonly observed due to gear tribology and
operating conditions like failure due to fatigue, scuffing
and continuous wear were briefly discussed along with
the necessities of low friction and low. Prevention of
failures and improving friction and wear can be
achieved by either changing the severe operating
conditions, application of lubricants or using advanced
tribo-materials. Where it is not possible to change the
operating conditions, the possible choices are new
surfaces.
The discussion of surface engineering for tribo-
materials was focused on hard coating surfaces like:
borides, nitrides and carbides; soft coating surfaces like:
metal dichalcogenides (MoS2 and WS2 Coatings); DLC,
undoped and metal doped DLC. Based on extensive
research into theses coatings it is clear that they have
many potentially good tribological properties like high
hardness, low wear, high melting temperature although
they can have variable response friction. Soft coatings
generally have low friction, reasonable wear making
them attractive for gear applications. DLC has good
tribological properties and especially metal doped DLC
are attractive [27].
Even though DLC has proved to be a good
advanced tribomaterial under dry conditions, there are
doubts about performance of DLC under oil lubrication
whether DLC is inert from a tribochemistry point of
view remains debatable. Therefore an attempt was
made in this paper to review the research done across
the world understanding DLC performance under oil
lubricated conditions [42, 45, 83-86].
The general consensus is that DLC will react with
additives in oils and there is potential to exploit this to
improve overall gear performance.
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