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Tribology International 40 (2007) 1619–1626

www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Experimental investigations on the contact fatigue life under

starved conditions
E. Querlioza,, F. Villea, H. Lenonb, T. Lubrechta
a
Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures (LaMCoS), UMR CNRS 5514, INSA Lyon, Bât. J. d’Alembert,
18-20 rue des sciences, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
b
SNR Roulements, BP 2017, 74010 Annecy, France
Received 28 August 2006; received in revised form 2 November 2006; accepted 7 November 2006
Available online 29 December 2006

Abstract

Over the last decades, severisation of the operating conditions in lubricated contact has led to the decrease of film thicknesses and to a
new failure mode. For example, starvation occurs in high-speed or grease-lubricated bearings and in mechanisms operating with a limited
lubricant supply. The film thickness under starved conditions depends on the amount of lubricant in the contact inlet and can be
calculated or measured. But in many industrial applications, the lubricant supply is unknown. This paper presents the effect of starvation
on the fatigue life of machine elements. The first part links the operating conditions, the lubricant supply and the traction coefficient. The
second part presents fatigue life measurements for different lubricant flow rates.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Starvation; Fatigue life; Traction

1. Introduction weight and cost of mechanisms have decreased. This has

Mechanical parts, like rolling element bearings, transmit
high loads while avoiding friction losses. In those parts, it is
essential to have a lubricant film between the contacting
bodies (rings and rolling elements). This film separates the
surfaces, accommodates the speed differences and avoids
contact heating. The lubricant is also essential because it
contains additives which protect the surfaces and increase
the contact fatigue life.
About 30 years ago, bearing failures were mainly due to
material defects [1,2]. Inclusions and defects present in the
steel accelerated the initiation of cracks and spalls. Today,
steel manufacturing techniques have been improved and
subsurface initiated spalls are no longer the main failure
cause. Hence fatigue life has increased. However, the
industrial demands concerning operating conditions, life
and performance have also increased. The load, speed and
temperature have risen; the lubricant viscosity, the size,
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 04 72 43 87 52;
fax: +33 04 78 89 09 80.
E-mail address: emmanuelle.querlioz@insa-lyon.fr (E. Querlioz).
led to a reduction of the film thickness, approaching the
surface roughness. This induces new failure modes due
to the surface micro-geometry (manufacturing defects,
roughness, dents, etc) and the lubricant (chemical compo-
sition and viscosity). Hence the film thickness is of great
importance to determine the fatigue life of mechanical
parts.
The first calculations of the lubricant film thickness were
conducted by Dowson and Higginson [3] and Hamrock
and Dowson [4]. They determined the film thickness as a
function of speed, load, geometry, material and lubricant
properties. Their predictions were experimentally validated
for smooth, steady state and fully flooded contacts. Under
specific conditions the actual film thickness may be lower
than the calculated one. This occurs, for example, when the
amount of lubricant is insufficient to fill the contact inlet.
For starved lubrication, the film thickness dependance on
the contact parameters is different. For the fully flooded
case, the film thickness is proportional to the speed to a
power 0.67. However, in a starved contact, it is inversely
proportional to the speed. Therefore, it is essential to know
if a contact operates in the fully flooded or starved regime.

0301-679X/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.triboint.2006.11.002
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1620 E. Querlioz et al. / Tribology International 40 (2007) 1619–1626

Early experimental work studying the starved regime

was conducted by Wedeven et al. [5], Pemberton and
Cameron [6] and Kingsbury [7]. They measured film
thickness and linked it with the distance between the inlet
meniscus and the Hertzian radius. This distance was used
as the parameter governing starvation. But this distance is
difficult to measure under heavily starved conditions.
Theoretical models were developed by Chiu [8], Kingsbury
[9], and Guangteng et al. [10] and later, by Chevalier [11,12]
and Damiens [13,14]. Chevalier used the equations
published by Bayada et al. [15] and described the starvation
severity using the amount of lubricant in the inlet instead of
the meniscus position. The y parameter is introduced: it is
the ratio between hoil, the sum of the oil layer thicknesses
on the two contacting surfaces and h, the gap between these
surfaces. The model was extended to elliptical starved
contacts by Damiens [13,14]. So, knowing the quantity of
lubricant in the contact inlet, it is possible to compute the
central film thickness using a single parameter g which
depends on the operating conditions and the lubricant and
material properties.
The goal of these studies was to determine the film
thickness in starved contacts and to model the loss and
replenishment mechanisms. However, film thickness is only
an intermediate step; the most important parameter in
mechanical design is the fatigue life prediction. Hence, it is
essential to study the contact fatigue life under starved
conditions. Dawson [16] studied the fatigue life as a
function of the film thickness and of the surface roughness.
In his experiments, he modified the film thickness by
changing the temperature, the viscosity and the mean Fig. 1. MTM, (a) MTM pot and test specimens (ball and disc), (b) sketch
of test specimens.
rolling speed. He plotted the results versus the lambda
ratio. This lambda parameter is defined as the ratio
between the lubricant film thickness and the surface test rig, a 20 mm diameter steel ball is loaded against a flat
roughness. The current work presents an experimental steel disc with a known roughness. The geometry and the
and theoretical study of the influence of the amount of load allow Hertzian pressures up to 1.2 GPa. The rolling
lubricant. One of the main problems in the experimental speed ranges from 0 to 5 m/s, with a slide-to-roll ratio from
study is to establish the amount of lubricant on the discs 0% to 200%. The ball axis of rotation intersects the centre
during the fatigue tests. This amount will be estimated of the top surface of the disc in order to minimise
using traction coefficient measurements. spin effects (see Fig. 1b). Ball and disc are enclosed in a
The first part of this paper deals with the experimental controlled temperature chamber and the temperature can
study of the influence of the lubricant amount on the be imposed from ambient to 150 1C. Usually, the disc is
traction coefficient in the contact. The second part is submerged in lubricant and the machine automatically runs
devoted to the use of this study to determine the film through a range of speeds or slide-to-roll ratios in order to
thickness in the contact. Finally, the influence of the plot Stribeck or traction curves (see samples, Fig. 2).
amount of lubricant on the fatigue life is analysed. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the
lubricant amount on the traction coefficient. The MTM
2. Traction coefficient and starved lubrication was used to measure the friction coefficient versus time for
a range of operating conditions and lubricant volumes (see
This section studies the influence of the amount of Table 1). After ultrasonic cleaning, a controlled volume of
lubricant on the traction coefficient in the contact, using a oil was supplied to the disc track using a high-precision
Mini Traction Machine (MTM). balance. Small droplets were deposited on the surface using
a syringe. The experiment starts with a pure rolling period
2.1. The Mini Traction Machine in order to uniformly distribute the lubricant on the ball
and disc track. Two poly-alpha-olefin (PAO) base oils were
The MTM (see Fig. 1a) is a computer-controlled traction tested: a low viscosity one (6.57 mPa. s@100 1C) and a high
measurement system, supplied by PCS Instruments. In this viscosity one (85 mPa. s@100 1C). The ball and disc are
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E. Querlioz et al. / Tribology International 40 (2007) 1619–1626 1621

Table 2
Operating conditions for the reference tests on the MTM

Temperature (1C) 40
Load (N) 25
Hertzian pressure (GPa) 0,89
Mean rolling speed (m/s) 0.1
SRR (%) 10
Oil amount (mg) 10; 15; 20
Oil viscosity (mPa. s) @100 1C 85

was measured every 40 s during a 20 min period. The

operating conditions are listed in Table 2.
Fig. 3a shows the traction coefficient versus time. The
lubricant amount significantly influences the traction
coefficient. For the fully flooded case, the traction
coefficient is constant but for the starved cases, it increases
before reaching a stabilised value. The time before the
traction coefficient stabilises depends directly on the oil
amount [11,12]. It corresponds to the time required to
balance the oil ejected from the track and the oil reflowing
into the track. This equilibrium time increases with
starvation. In the case of 10 mg, a stable traction coefficient
is not reached. A longer test was performed to reach the
stabilised traction coefficient (see Fig. 3b), however, the
traction increases faster towards the end of the test. This
means that for this oil quantity and these operating
conditions, scuffing can occur. In order to avoid it, the
slide-to-roll ratio was decreased from 10% to 2%, thereby
reducing thermal effects.

2.3. Slide-to-roll ratio influence

Fig. 2. Samples of traction curve and Stribeck curve, (a) traction curve: The same tests as in Section 2.2 were conducted with a
traction coefficient versus slide-to-roll ratio, (b) Stribeck curve: traction slide-to-roll ratio of 2%. The results are plotted in Fig. 4.
coefficient versus mean rolling speed. With the 2% slide-to-roll ratio, the traction coefficient
attains a stabilised value even for the 10 mg test. A more
Table 1 severe case (5 mg) shows continuous traction increase but
Operating conditions and base oil properties for the MTM tests no indication of scuffing. This confirms that the thermal
effects are reduced. In addition, this confirms that the
Temperature (1C) 40; 60
stabilisation time increases with starvation.
Load (N) 25
Mean rolling speed (mm/s) 100
ðU 1 U 2 Þ 2; 10
Slide-to-roll ratio ðSRRÞ ¼ 2ðU þU Þ (%) 2.4. Viscosity or bulk temperature influence
1 2
Oil amount (mg) 5; 10; 15; 20
Oil viscosity (mPa. s) @100 1C 6.57 (PAO8); 85 (PAO100)
First, tests were performed with different oil viscosities.
They are obtained by varying the oil temperature. The
PAO100 results at 60 1C are shown in Fig. 5.
very smooth (RMSdisc ¼ 12 nm; RMSball ¼ 6 nm, the RMS These results show that for the same oil quantities as
being the quadratic average value of the roughness before, the starvation is less severe. Indeed, the 10 mg
amplitude). amount of oil gives the same traction coefficient as under
fully flooded conditions. So, the increase in oil temperature
2.2. Influence of lubricant amount leads to a decrease of the starvation severity by increasing
the replenishment effects (increased lubricant mobility).
For a given set of operating conditions, the influence of The balance between loss and replenishment is reached
the lubricant amount was studied. All the tests were earlier and the film thickness is larger. This results in a
conducted using the PAO100 oil. The traction coefficient lower traction coefficient.
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Fig. 3. Traction coefficient versus time for different amounts of lubricant,
PAO100, 40 1C, 25N, 100 mm/s, 10%. (a) 10 min, (b) 20 min.
2.5. Summary
Previous work on starvation by Cann et al. [17]
shows which parameters determine the starved film
thickness. The starvation degree is defined by the
balance between the lubricant loss and replenishment
on the track. On one hand, each contact passage ejects a
certain quantity of lubricant. On the other hand, replen-
ishment takes place in the vicinity of the contact
area. These mechanisms are linked to the operating
conditions, lubricant parameters and oil amount through
the dimensionless parameter SD ¼ Z0ua/shoil [17]. The
principal parameters are the lubricant viscosity Z0 (related
to the oil temperature) the mean rolling speed u and
the oil layer thickness in the inlet hoil, directly linked to
Fig. 4. Traction coefficient versus time for different amounts of lubricant,
PAO100, 40 1C, 25N, 100 mm/s, 2%.
Fig. 5. Traction coefficient versus time for different amounts of lubricant,
PAO100, 60 1C, 25N, 100 mm/s, 2%.
the lubricant volume v. As the contact half-width a and
the oil surface tension s are constant in these experiments,
the product Z0u/v determines the film formation (as under
fully flooded conditions) and also the replenishment
mechanisms.
The PAO100 viscosity is 1.1 Pa. s@40 1C and
0.42 Pa. s@60 1C. Changing the temperature from 40 to
60 1C, divides the viscosity by 2.5. The results will be the
same with an oil volume also divided by 2.5. In fact, at
60 1C, the fully flooded case starts with 10 mg instead of
25 mg at 40 1C. The traction with 5 mg at 60 1C should
correspond to the traction for 12.5 mg at 40 1C. This is
indeed observed in Fig. 6. It confirms the importance of the
Z0u/v product on the friction value.
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E. Querlioz et al. / Tribology International 40 (2007) 1619–1626 1623

Fig. 6. Comparison of the traction coefficient versus time for different

amounts of lubricant, PAO100, 40 and 60 1C, 25 N, 100 mm/s, 2%.
Fig. 7. Stribeck curve versus the fully flooded film thickness (bottom axis)
and the lambda ratio (top axis), PAO8, 40 1C, 25 N, 1000 mm/s, 2%.

3. Link between traction coefficient and starved film

thickness

One of the main ideas of this study was to use the

traction coefficient to determine the contact film thickness.
This can be done using the Stribeck curve. This curve
shows the traction coefficient versus a dimensionless
parameter which represents the film thickness. Using the
MTM and varying the mean rolling speed, a fully flooded
Stribeck curve for different operating conditions was
obtained. As the fully flooded film thickness depends on
the speed to a power 0.67, the Stribeck curve can be
replotted versus the film thickness (see Fig. 7, bottom axis).
Another useful representation
 is the Stribeck curve plotted
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
versus the lambda ratio l ¼ hfilm = RMS 21 þ RMS 22 .
The roughness of the samples is known and constant for
the whole study (see Fig. 7, top axis). Fig. 8. Traction coefficient versus time, PAO8, 40 1C, 25N, 1000 mm/s, 2%.
The traction coefficient is assumed to be independent of
the lubrication regime. So, the Stribeck curve is used under
measurements, such as the twin disc machine used for the
starved conditions: knowing the traction coefficient, the
fatigue study.
lambda ratio in the contact, as well as the corresponding
film thickness, can be determined.
A traction coefficient measurement versus time was 4. Fatigue tests and life prediction
carried out with a limited amount of lubricant (6 mg, see
Fig. 8). The stabilised traction value of 0.027 is reached The last part of this study was aimed to determine the
after about 50 min. On the Stribeck curve, this corresponds influence of the lubricant amount on rolling contact
to a lambda value of 1. This leads to a film thickness of fatigue. A twin disc experimental rig was used.
13 nm. The fully flooded film thickness under the same
operating conditions would be 250 nm. This shows that 4.1. The twin disc fatigue machine
under these conditions starvation is significant.
This gives a simple experimental method to determine This test rig (see Figs. 9 and 10) simulates the contact
the film thickness in a starved contact, using traction between gear teeth or between ring and rolling elements.
coefficient measurements. It is very useful when the The test specimens are two steel discs: a cylindrical and
experimental test rig is not designed to allow film thickness a crowned one. The geometry (radius of curvature) gives
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4.2. Experimental results

The lubrication system was modified to vary the

lubricant flow rate. Fatigue life tests were carried out for
different flow-rates and for a given set of operating
conditions (see Table 3).
The tests were conducted with artificially dented
surfaces. The 250 mm dents were made using a Rockwell
indentor (see Fig. 11a.). Dented surfaces were used in order
to decrease the fatigue life (see Coulon et al. [18,19]).
Previous work has shown a standard deviation of the

Table 3
Operating conditions and oil properties for the fatigue life tests

Temperature (1C) 80
Hertzian pressure (GPa) 3.5
Fig. 9. Twin disc fatigue machine. Mean rolling speed (m/s) 11
SRR (%) 7
Oil viscosity (mPa. s) @100 1C 7 (oil A); 6.3 (oil B)

Fig. 10. Twin-disc machine, contact area.

a circular contact area and a Hertzian pressure of 3.5 GPa.

The load is applied with a pneumatic jack and controlled
with a manometer. The discs are driven by a single motor,
a bevel gearbox and a set of pulleys and belts giving mean
rolling speeds from 0.36 to 11 m/s with a constant slide-to-
roll ratio of 7%. The contact is lubricated using an oil jet.
Two proximity probes are used to detect crack and spall
propagation. The test is stopped when one of the sensors
detects a failure or when the maximum number of cycles is
reached.
This rig is normally used to study the fatigue life of
different materials, using different lubricants, surface
roughnesses and operating conditions. In this work, the
fatigue life of two discs with a limited amount of two
different lubricants was studied. Fig. 11. Dented surfaces. (a) Before test, (b) after test.
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E. Querlioz et al. / Tribology International 40 (2007) 1619–1626
Fig. 12. Relative fatigue life (L/Lff) versus relative lubricant flow rate
(Q/Qff). (a) Oil A, (b) oil B.
dented fatigue life of 10%. In addition, most contacts in
industrial applications are working under contaminated
conditions and thus with dented surfaces. The damage
develops on the dented disc around the dents or on the
smooth disc. The aim is to generate cracks and spalls (see
Fig. 11b) and to avoid scuffing.
Tests were run using two different lubricants with
similar base oil viscosities (oil A: 7 mPa. s@80 1C; oil B:
6.3 mPa. s@80 1C). These are commercial lubricants with a
semi-synthetic base oil and different additive packages. The
first oil is used for marine transmissions and the second
one is for passenger car gearboxes. The absolute fatigue
lives obtained are different, but the trends are similar (see
Fig. 12). It can be seen that for a relative lubricant flow-
rate of 50%, the fatigue life is significantly shortened
(almost divided by two). This shows that the rolling contact
fatigue life depends strongly on the amount of lubricant.
These results can be compared with studies done by
1625
Dawson [16], using the lambda ratio as the driving
parameter. In a first approximation, the comparison is
done, assuming that the lambda ratio is proportional to the
lubricant flow-rate. Similar tendencies are obtained.
5. Conclusions
Firstly, the influence of starvation on the traction
coefficient was studied. The first results showed that
starvation can increase the thermal effects in the contacts.
This can lead to scuffing-type failures. Experiments were
conducted with less sliding, to avoid contact heating. The
influence of different parameters on the traction coefficient
was studied. The film thickness formation and the traction
coefficient value depend strongly on the amount of
lubricant and on the operating conditions. The amount
determines both the stabilised traction value and the time
required to reach equilibrium.
The goal of this study was also to develop an alternative
way to determine the film thickness in experimental test
rigs, using traction measurements.
Secondly, the fatigue life of starved contacts for different
oil amounts was measured. The goal was to avoid scuffing
and to reproduce the fatigue damages observed in real
mechanisms working under starved conditions. The fatigue
life was plotted versus the lubricant flow-rate. A significant
variation of the fatigue life as a function of the lubricant
flow-rate was obtained for two different oils. In addition
these fatigue life results are similar to former experimental
work by Dawson.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ms. Céline Cluzel and
the staff from PCS Instruments for their help and advice
concerning the use of the MTM. They are also very
grateful to Mr. Vincent Baudin and Mr. Nicolas Filaire,
from the LaMCoS, for doing all the fatigue life tests and
for their technical support during the experimental study.
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