Influence of Surface Wettability on Lubrication by Limited Lubricant Supply

The influence of surface wettability on the lubrication by limited lubricant supply (LLS) was studied with the test rig for measuring lubrication film thickness in flat-on-flat contact. In the tests, lubricating film was generated by a stationary steel slider and a rotating transparent disc with a fixed inclination angle. The results show that the lubricant spreaded well on the disc surface with high wettability, and film thickness increased with increasing lubricant supply quantities. When the disc surface energy/wettability was low, the lubricant stayed on the disc surface in the form of discrete droplets due to dewetting, and higher film thickness was obtained with smaller lubricant supply quantity. The experimental findings could be explained by the lubricant distribution on the lubricated tracks.