Lubrication Concept Evaluated for Geared Actuators under Starved Conditions

Lubricant starvation leads to the risk of a shift in the lubrication regime from (elasto)hydrodynamic towards boundary conditons. Effective tribofilm formation is essential to limit surface damages in these conditions, but additive technology for space-grade lubricants is lacking. This work evaluates the feasibility of a novel type of multifunctional ionic liquid lubricant, for use with multiply alkylated cyclopentane (MAC). Actuator gearboxes are operated under starved conditions in nitrogen atmosphere to evaluate the effectiveness of the tribofilm forming lubricant (designated P-SiSO). The effectiveness of P-SiSO was evaluated from macro to micro scale in both surface and sub-surface analysis by use of microscopy (optical, interferometric, SEM) and X-ray microtomography (XMT), and mechanisms of effective lubrication are discussed. Finansiär: K2 XTribology (849109); The Taiho Kogyo Research FoundationRymdforskarskola