Wear 271 (2011) 842–852

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Wear
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New micro tribometer for rolling friction

Dumitru N. Olaru ∗ , Ciprian Stamate, Alina Dumitrascu, Gheorghe Prisacaru
Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iasi, Department of Machine Elements and Mechatronics, Bld. D. Mangeron 61-63, 700050 Iasi, Romania

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: To determine the rolling friction resistance in the micro rolling systems we developed a new micro tri-
Received 20 October 2010 bometer consisting in a driving rotational disc in contact with 3 microballs which sustain an inertial
Received in revised form 2 March 2011 driven rotational disc. The driving disc has a constant rotational speed and his rotational motion is trans-
Accepted 25 March 2011
mitted to the inertial driven disc by rolling friction forces, developed in the rolling contacts between the
Available online 1 April 2011
microballs and the inertial disc. When the rotational speed of the inertial driven disc becomes constant,
the driven disc is stopped and the inertial driven disc starts a deceleration process until it completely
Keywords:
stops due to friction. A camera monitors the angular position of the inertial driven disc, from the start of
Rolling friction
Friction test methods
the deceleration process to his completely stop (the spin-down method). An analytical model based on
Dynamic modelling the integration of the inertial disc motion equation, including both rolling frictions in the rolling contacts
Friction torque and the friction between the inertial disc and air has been developed. The equation of the inertial disc
Friction coefficient angular position, as function of the time was obtained considering two hypothesis: (i) in the first hypoth-
esis it was considered that rolling friction torque does not depend on rotational speed in dry contacts;
(ii) in the second hypothesis it was considered a linear dependence between rolling friction torque and
rotational speed for dry contacts. Experimental investigations using the new microtribometer with three
1.588 mm diameter stainless steel microballs, for a range of rotational speed between 30 rpm and 210 rpm
and for normal contact loads between 8 mN and 33 mN confirm the validity of the hypothesis of constant
friction torque in dry conditions. Based on the hypothesis of constant friction torque, the rolling friction
torque in the contacts between the microballs and the two discs having values between 1.8 ␮Nmm and
7.2 ␮Nmm have been obtained with the new microtribometer. Also, rolling friction coefficients having
values between 0.0002 and 0.0004 have been obtained.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction between balls. It can be mentioned that in the experiments of

The use of linear or rotating microball bearings in MEMS appli-
cations (micromotors, microgenerators, microactuators, microp-
umps) implies the simplification in construction, low level of
friction, low level of wear and high stability, and thus the microball
bearings seem to be a promising solution for future MEMS applica-
tions.
In the last period, some experimental evaluations of the friction
in the linear and rotating microball bearings were realized.
Lin et al. [1] determined the static and dynamic coeffi-
cient of friction for a linear microball system consisting
of micromachined silicon V-grooves and stainless-steel
microballs having 0.285 mm diameter. Through the acceler-
ation of the free slider in the linear microball system, the
authors have established that the dynamic friction coefficient is
found to be in between 0.007 and 0.015 if there is no interaction
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +40 232232337; fax: +40 232232337.
E-mail addresses: dolaru@mail.tuiasi.ro, dumitru olaru@yahoo.com (D.N. Olaru).
Lin et al. [1] the friction coefficient included both rolling friction
and pivoting friction in the contacts between microballs and the
guides.
Tan et al. [2] continued the experimental research from [1] and
proposed a viscoelastic model for friction force, developed in a
rolling contact between a microball and a micromachined silicon
plane. This viscoelastic model includes material parameters, ball
diameter, normal load and linear speed and was applied to the
rolling contacts from the linear microball system used in [1]. For
a steel microball having 0.285 mm diameter, loaded with a normal
force of 2 mN and rolling with a linear speed between −0.02 m/s
and +0.02 m/s the authors obtained friction coefficient values up
to 0.007. In addition, the rolling friction torque obtained by this
viscoelastic model was between zero and 2.2·10−3 ␮Nm.
Ghalichechian et al. [3] experimentally determined the friction
coefficient in an encapsulated rotary microball bearing mecha-
nism using microfabrication silicon and stainless steel microballs of
0.285 mm diameter. The friction coefficient was indirectly obtained
by measuring the transient response of the rotor in the decelera-
tion process from a constant angular velocity until it completely

0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2011.03.007
 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852
stops due to friction. Using a high-speed camera system, the angu-
lar position of the rotor in the deceleration process was determined.
The measured angular positions (t) was fitted to an exponential
function in the form (t) = ˛ · exp(ˇ · t) +  · t + ı, where t is the time
(in seconds) and ˛, ˇ,  and ı are constants. The acceleration of the
rotor was obtained by differentiation of the function (t). The global
friction torque was determined as a linear dependence with accel-
eration and value of 5.62 ␮Nm has been obtained for an angular
speed of 20.5 rad/s and under an axial load of 48 mN.
McCarthy et al. [4] experimentally investigated the influence
of the speed and of the normal load on dynamic friction in a
planar-contact encapsulated microball bearing having 0.285 mm
diameter stainless steel microballs and silicon races. Using the
spin-down method and considering a linear dependence between
friction torque and rotational speed, the authors determined the
global friction torque and dynamic friction coefficient for rotational
speed between 250 rpm and 5000 rpm and for axial load between
10 mN and 50 mN. The global friction torque obtained was from
0.0625 ␮Nm to 2.5 ␮Nm for rotational speed between 250 rpm and
5000 rpm and for axial load between 10 mN and 50 mN, respec-
tively. The friction coefficient obtained for these conditions was
from 0.0005 (at 250 rpm and 50 mN) to 0.025 (at 5000 rpm and
10 mN). Also, based on the experimental results, authors obtained
following empirical power-law model for the global friction torque
in the microball bearing: M = 9 · 10−5 · FN0.444 · n, where M is global
friction torque in ␮Nm, FN is the axial load acting on the microball
bearing in mN and n is rotational speed in rot/min.
Using the integration of the free oscillations equations of a
microball on a spherical surface, Olaru et al. [5] evaluated the rolling
friction torque and the rolling friction coefficient on the basis of the
number and amplitude of the experimentally determined microball
oscillations. For a steel microball having a diameter of 1 mm and a
spherical glass surface Olaru et al. obtained in dry conditions val-
ues for rolling friction torque of 0.7·10−3 ␮Nm and rolling friction
coefficient up to 0.025 at a normal load on microball of 40 ␮N.
All the experimental results obtained by [1,3,4] refer to the
global rolling friction both in a microball linear system [1] and in a
rotary microball bearing [3,4]. It is important to be evidenced that
both in the microball linear system and in the rotary microball bear-
ing the global friction is a result both of the rolling friction and of
the sliding friction caused by the pivoting motion of the microballs
over the races.
In order to determine only the rolling friction torque in the
micro rolling systems, we have developed a new micro tribome-
ter consisting in a driving disc, an inertial driven disc and three
microballs which are rolling between the two discs. A camera mon-
itors the angular position of the inertial driven disc, from the start
of the deceleration process to his completely stop (the spin-down
method). An analytical model based on the integration of the iner-
tial disc motion equation including both rolling frictions in the
rolling contacts and the friction between rotating disc and air has
been developed. Experimental investigations were realized with
the microballs having the diameter of 1.588 mm under the normal
loads between 8.68 mN and 33.2 mN and for the rotational speed
between 30 rpm and 210 rpm.
2. Equipment and procedure
Fig. 1 presents the new micro tribometer. The driving disc 1 is
rotated with a constant rotational speed and has a radial groove
race. Three microballs are in contact with the race of the disc 1 at
the equidistance position (120 degrees). All the three microballs
sustain an inertial disc 2 with the same radial grove race and the
microballs are loaded with a force Q = G/3, where G is the weigh of
the disc 2.
843
Fig. 1. General view of the microtribometer.
When the disc 1 starts to rotate with a constant angular speed
ω1 , the balls start to roll on the raceway of the disc 1 and start to
rotate the inertial disc 2, as a result of rolling friction forces between
the balls and the disc 2. When the rotational speed of the inertial
driven disc becomes constant, ω2,0 , the driven disc 1 is stopped
and the inertial driven disc 2 starts a deceleration process until
it completely stops due to friction. During this time the angular
position of the disc 2, ϕ2 (t), has a time variation from zero to a
maximum value and the corresponding angular speed of the disc
2 has a time variation ω2 (t) from the initial value ω2,0 to zero. By
monitoring the angular position of the disc 2, information can be
obtained regarding the friction in the rolling contacts between the
microballs and the two discs.
A high-speed camera Philips SPC900NC/00 VGA CCD with 90
frames/seconds was used to capture the angular position of the
disc 2 during the tests. The camera was vertically installed 150 mm
above the disc 2, to minimize the measurement errors. A white
mark was placed both on the disc 2 and on the disc 1 as it can be
observed in Fig. 2, and the angular positions of the disc 2, ϕ2 (t), was
measured according to the reference line (position at t = 0 when the
rotational speed of the disc 1 is stopped).
The images captured by the camera were processed frame by
frame in a PC using Virtual Dub soft and were transferred in Auto-
CAD to measure the angular positions ϕ2 (t), corresponding to every
frame.
3. Analytical model
In the deceleration process of the disc 2, when the angular speed
ω2 (t) decreases from a constant value ω2,0 to zero, by considering
both the friction forces between the disc 2 with the three microballs
in contact and the friction of the disc 2 with the air, the following
differential equation can be used for the inertial disc 2:
dω2
J· − 3 · F2 · r − Mf = 0 (1)
dt
where J is the inertial moment of the disc 2, F2 is the tangential force
developed in the contact between a microball and the disc 2, r is
the radius of the discs path and Mf is the friction torque developed
between the rotating disc 2 and air.
For a disc with inner radius Ri , outer radius Re and a mass md ,
the inertial moment J is determined by the relation:
J = 0.5 · md · (Ri2 + Re2 ) (2)
For a disc with a rotational speed ω2 in a fluid with a kinematics vis-
cosity f and a density f , the friction torque Mf can be determined
by the relation [6]:
Mf = 0.5 · KM · f · Re5 · ω22 (3)
844 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852

Fig. 2. Determination of the angular position ϕ2 (t) of the disc 2.

where KM is a coefficient depending on the Reynolds parameter Using the forces and moments equilibrium equations for a
Re = Re2 · ω2 /f . microball, the tangential force F2 was determined by the equation:
For laminar flow (30 < Re <3·105 ) the √ coefficient KM can be (Mr1 + Mr2 ) F
determined by the relation KM = 3.87/ Re. When the rotational F2 = − ib (5)
d 2
speed of the disc 2 has maximum values between 30 rpm and
where d is the microball diameter.
210 rpm and the radius Re is 0.012 m, the Reynolds parameters
The inertial force acting in the center of the microball is deter-
have values between 30 and 210 (the kinematics viscosity of the
mined by the equation:
air was considered f = 15·10−6 m2 /s and the density of the air
was considered f = 1.18 kg/m3 ). For these values of the Reynolds dωb
Fib = mb · ·r (6)
parameters, the KM coefficient can be approximated by a constant dt
value of 0.5 and Eq. (3) can be approximated by the following equa- where mb is the mass of the microball and ωb is the angular speed
tion: of the microball in the revolution motion around the center of the
two discs. Considering the pure rolling motion of the microballs,
Mf = cf · ω22 (4) the angular speed ωb can be expressed as ωb = 0.5·ω2 and the Eq.
(6) can be written:
mb · r dω2
where the coefficient cf has an approximate value of Fib = · (7)
2 dt
7.3·10−11 N m s2 .
As is presented in Fig. 3, in the deceleration process of the disc By including the Eqs. (4), (5) and (7) in the Eq. (1), the following
2, the following forces in the rotational plane act on a microball: differential equation in the deceleration process of the disc 2 was
the tangential contact forces F1 and F2 and the inertial force Fib . In obtained:
addition, in the two microballs - races contacts we considered two dω2
= a · (Mr1 + Mr2 ) + b · ω22 (8)
rolling friction torques Mr1 and Mr2 . dt
where a and b are constants defined by the relations:
3·r
a= (9)
d · (J + 3 · r 2 · mb /4)
cf
b= (10)
(J + 3 · r 2 · mb /4)
To integrate the differential Eq. (8), two hypothesis were made:

(i) In the first hypothesis it was considered that the rolling friction
torques Mr1 and Mr2 does not depend on the rotational speed;
(ii) In the second hypothesis it was considered that the rolling fric-
tion torques Mr1 and Mr2 have a linear dependence on rotational
speed.

(i) First hypothesis. Considering that the rolling friction torques

Mr1 and Mr2 are constant, Eq. (8) can be analytically solved and the
following solution for angular speed of the disc 2, ω2 (t), as function
of time results
c
 b 
ω2 (t) = · tg −c · t + arctg · ω2,0 (11)
Fig. 3. The forces and the moments acting on a microball in deceleration process. b c
 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852 845


where c = a · b · (Mr1 + Mr2 ) and ω2,0 is the angular speed of the
disc 2 at the moment when the rotation of the disc 1 was stopped
(the initial condition at t = 0, ω2 (t) = ω2,0 ).
Considering that ω2 (t) = dϕ2 (t)/dt, where ϕ2 (t) is the variation of
the angular position of the disc 2 in deceleration process, Eq. (11)
can be integrated and the following solution for ϕ2 (t) results:
2
−ln[1 + tg[−c · t + arctg(b/c · ω2,0 )]] ln[1 + (b/c · ω2,0 ) ]
ϕ2 (t) = + ,
2b 2b
(12)
with the initial condition: at t = 0, ϕ2 (t) = 0.
(ii) Second hypothesis. Considering that the rolling friction
torques Mr1 and Mr2 have a linear dependence on the rotational
speed, it can be written that (Mr1 + Mr2 ) = k · ω2 and differential Eq.
(8) becomes:
dω2
= a · k · ω2 + b · ω22 (13)
dt
Eq. (13) can be analytically solved and the following solution
results:
a · k · exp(−a · k · t + k1)
ω2 (t) = (14)
1 − b · exp(−a · k · t + k1)
with the initial condition: at t = 0, ω2 (t) = ω2,0 .
By integrating of the Eq. (14) the following solution results:
1 1
ϕ2 (t) = · ln(1 − b · exp(−a · k · t + k1)) − · ln(1 − b · exp(k1)) Fig. 4. General view of the experimental equipments.
b b
(15)
used in the experiments. The roughness of the active surfaces of the
with the initial condition: at t = 0, ϕ2 (t)= 0, where
two discs and of the microballs were measured with Form Talysurf
k1 = ln[ω2,0 /(a · k + b · ω2,0 )] and k has a constant value determined
Intra System. The following values of Ra were obtained: rolling path
according to the experimental results.
of the disc 1 and 2, Ra = 0.030 ␮m and ball surface, Ra = 0.02 ␮m. The
For given dimensions of the microballs and those of the two
tests were realized for the following rotational speed of the disc 2:
discs, by monitoring the angular position and angular speed of the
30 rpm, 60 rpm, 90 rpm, 120 rpm, 150 rpm, 180 rpm, 210 rpm.
disc 2 in the deceleration process, it is possible to determine the
All measurements are performed in steady room environment at
sum of the rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) as a constant value
a temperature of (18–20) ◦ C and a relative humidity of (40–55)%RH.
using the Eq. (12) in the first hypothesis, or as a function of ω2 (t)
All the tests were realized in dry conditions after the surfaces of the
using the Eq. (15), in the second hypothesis.
two races and of the microballs were cleaned with alcohol.
Having determined the sum of the friction torque, it can be
Fig. 5 presents the registrations of the angular positions ϕ2 (t)
obtained an average rolling friction coefficient in the rolling con-
for a normal load on the microballs Q = 8.68 mN and for the initial
tacts between the microballs and the races r defined by following
rotational speed of the disc 2 having the following values: 30 rpm,
equation:
60 rpm, 90 rpm, 120 rpm, 150 rpm, 180 rpm, 210 rpm. For every
(Mr1 + Mr2 )
r = (16)
Q ·d
In addition, a global friction coefficient defined as g = F2 /Q can be
obtained from Eq. (5) and (7):
(Mr1 + Mr2 ) m · r dω2
g = − b · (17)
d·Q 4·Q dt

4. Experimental results and validation of the procedure

Using the new microtribometer presented in Fig. 1, many exper-

imental investigations were realized. The microtribometer was
mounted on the rotational table of the CETR-UMT Tribometer as
in Fig. 4. The discs 1 and 2 are the steel rings of an axial ball bear-
ing (series 51100) having a rolling path with a radius r = 8.4 mm
and a transversal curvature radius Rc = 2.63 mm. The inertial disc 2
was machined on external surface by electro erosion to reduce the
weight to a minimum of G = 26.05 mN, and has following dimen-
sions Ri = 5 mm, Re = 12 mm. That represents a minimum normal
load on every microball Q = 8.68 mN. To increase the normal load on
the microballs, a lot of new discs similar to the disc 2 were attached
on the disc 2, thus obtaining the following values for the normal
load: 8.68 mN, 15 mN, 22.3 mN, 27 mN, 33.2 mN. Three stainless Fig. 5. The time variation of the angular positions ϕ2 (t) experimentally determined
steel microballs having the diameter of 1.588 mm (1/16 inch) were for a normal load Q = 8.68 mN.
846 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852

Fig. 7. The experimentally and theoretically variations of the angular position ϕ2 (t)
Fig. 6. The experimentally and theoretically variations of the angular position ϕ2 (t) given by Eq. (12) for rotational speed of 120 rpm and normal load of 8.68 mN
given by Eq. (12) for rotational speed of 60 rpm and normal load of 8.68 mN

rotational speed, was obtained a cumulative angular position of the

disc 2 from the start of the deceleration process to his completely
stop, ϕ2,max , and a deceleration time, tmax .
Similar values for the parameters ϕ2,max and tmax were obtained
for all normal loads.

4.1. Validation of the two hypotheses

The two hypothesis were validated according to the following

experimentally determined parameters: variations of the angular
position of the disc 2, ϕ2 (t), cumulative angular position of the disc
2, ϕ2,max , and the deceleration time of the disc 2, tmax .

4.1.1. Validation of the constant friction torque hypothesis

For an imposed geometry of the microballs and of the discs, and
for the imposed initial angular speed of the disc 2, ω2,0 , the param- Fig. 8. The experimentally and theoretically variations of the angular position ϕ2 (t)
eters a, b from Eq. (12) are constant, and must be determined only given by Eq. (12) for rotational speed of 210 rpm and normal load of 8.68 mN
the sum of the friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ). So, for every experiment
was imposed that at the time tmax the analytical value of the angular 4.1.2. Validation of the variable friction torque hypothesis
position given by Eq. (12) to be equal with ϕ2,max : For an imposed geometry of the microballs and of the discs, and
for an imposed initial angular speed of the disc 2, ω2,0 , the param-
ϕ2 (tmax )Eq.(12) = ϕ2,max (18)
eters a, b from Eq. (15) are constant and only the parameter k must
be determined. Using Eq. (15), it was determined the value of the
where ϕ2,max and tmax were experimentally determined. By impos-
ing the condition (18), numerical values for the sum of the rolling
friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) were obtained for every experiment.
The determined sum of the torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) was introduced
in the Eq. (12) and the comparison between theoretically and
experimentally variations of the angular position ϕ2 (t) have been
presented in Figs. 6–8 for rotational speed of 60 rpm, 120 rpm and
210 rpm, respectively.
The maximum differences between the numerical values
obtained by Eq. (12) and the experimental values of the angular
position ϕ2 (t) do not exceed 5% for all experiments.
With the sums (Mr1 + Mr2 ) above determined, it was verified by
the Eq. (11) if the angular speed of the disc 2 was stopped at the
time experimentally determined tmax .
So, in Fig. 9 is presented the numerical variation of the angular
speed of the disc 2 given by Eq. (11) for rotational speeds of the disc
2 of 60 rpm, 120 rpm and 210 rpm and a normal load
Q = 8.68 mN. It can be observed that the numerical variation of
the angular speed ω2 (t) obtained by Eq. (11) has a quasi linear varia-
tion from ω2,0 to zero, and the deceleration times correspond to the
Fig. 9. The numerical variation of the angular speed of the disc 2 given by Eq. (11)
experimental determined values: tmax = 20 s at 60 rpm, tmax = 41 s at
for rotational speeds of the disc 2 of 60 rpm, 120 rpm and 210 rpm and a normal load
120 rpm, tmax = 55 s at 210 rpm. Q = 8.68 mN.
 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852
Fig. 10. The experimental and the numerical variation of the angular position of the
disc 2 given by Eq. (15) for a rotational speed of the disc 2 of 120 rpm and a normal
load Q = 8.68 mN.
parameter k imposing the condition that at the stop of the disc 2
for the time t = tmax , the angular position of this disc to cumulate
the experimentally determined value ϕ2,max :
ϕ2 (tmax )Eq.(15) = ϕ2,max (19)
With the above determined value of the parameter k, was deter-
mined the variation of the friction torque sum (Mr1 + Mr2 )= kω2 and
was verified by Eq. (14) the variation of the angular speed of the disc
2.
In Fig. 10 is presented the numerical variation of the angular
position of the disc 2 given by Eq. (15) for a rotational speed of
the disc 2 of 120 rpm and a normal load Q = 8.68 mN. The param-
eter k has value of 5.8 · 10−10 ␮Nmm · s. The maximum difference
between the numerical values obtained by Eq. (15) and the exper-
imental values of the angular position ϕ2 (t) does not exceed 8%.
In Fig. 11 is presented the numerical variation of the angular speed
ω2 (t) obtained by Eq. (14). It can be observed that the angular speed
of the disc 2 decreases from initial angular speed ω2,0 = 12.4 rad/s
but it is not zero at the experimentally stopped time tmax = 41 s.
By this hypothesis the angular speed has an asymptotic decreas-
ing to zero for the time t > tmax .
Similar variations for the angular position and angular speed of
the disc 2 were obtained for all the experiments.
By comparing the two hypotheses, the following observations
can be formulated:
Fig. 11. The numerical variation of the angular speed of the disc 2 given by Eq. (14)
for rotational speed of the disc 2 of 120 rpm and a normal load Q = 8.68 mN.
847
Fig. 12. The variation of the sum of the rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) for normal
load Q = 15 mN
Both hypotheses realize good approximations of the angular
positions ϕ2 (t) with experimental results but there is an important
difference between the two hypothesis, that reefers to the angu-
lar speed, ω2 (t). So, the hypothesis of the constant friction torque
has a time variation of the angular speed which becomes zero at
a time tmax equal with the experimentally determined value. The
hypothesis considering the variation of the friction torques with
rotational speed has a time variation of the angular speed which
becomes zero asymptotically, at a time t greater that the measured
time tmax .
Our conclusion is that the hypothesis of the constant friction
torque can be accepted as the better hypothesis leading to a good
theoretical model in the interval of the rotational speed between
30 rpm and 210 rpm for dry conditions.
4.2. Determination of the rolling friction torques
The sum of the friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) for all experiments
was determined in the hypothesis of the constant friction torque
by using Eqs. (11) and (12) applied to the experimental results.
For every normal load and rotational speed, four experiments were
realized in the same environmental conditions and the average val-
ues were determined for all the experiments. In Fig. 12 is presented
the variation of the sum of the rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 )
for a normal load Q = 15 mN and for rotational speed of the disc 2
having values between 30 rpm and 210 rpm.
The average values of the sum of friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 )
for the normal loads between 8.68 mN and 33.2 mN and for the
rotational speed of the disc 2 having values between 30 rpm and
210 rpm are presented in Fig. 13.
It can be observed that between 30 rpm and 150 rpm the sum
of the friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) depends only on the normal load
acting on the microballs and does not depend on the speed. By
increasing the speed from 150 rpm to 210 rpm, it can be observed
that the friction torques have small increases with rotational speed,
which can be explained by increasing the rotating disc vibration.
Our theoretical model considers that all the inertial energy of the
disc 2 is dissipated in the rolling contacts and in the friction with
air. The presence of the small vibrations of the disc 2 represents
supplementary energy losses with reduction of the inertial energy
of the disc 2. As a result, the rotating time of the disc 2 decreases,
and that means in our model an increase of the friction torque.
Considering that the geometry and kinematics of the contacts
between microballs and the two discs are the same and neglect-
ing the influence of the microball weight on the normal load (the
mass of a microball leads to an additional force Qb = 0.165 mN in
the contact between microball and the disc 1), we can consider
that the friction torque between a microball and the disc 1 or 2 can
848 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852

Fig. 13. The sum of the rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) experimentally determined by the new microtribometer.

be obtained by the relation Mr = 0.5(Mr1 + Mr2 ). In Fig. 14, there are

presented the variations of the rolling friction torques Mr with nor-
mal load Q, for all rotational speeds used in the experiments. The
values between 1.9 ␮Nmm and 7.4 ␮Nmm have been obtained for
the rolling friction torque Mr when the normal load and rotational
speed have variations between 8.68 mN and 33.2 mN and 30 rpm
to 210 rpm, respectively.
The results presented in Fig. 14 show that if the rotational speed
has a small influence on the rolling friction torque, the normal load
has an important influence on the rolling friction torque, in the dry
contacts.

4.3. Determination of the rolling friction coefficient

The average rolling friction coefficient in the rolling contacts

between the microballs and the races was determined by the Eq.
Fig. 15. The variation of the rolling friction coefficient r with rotational speed for
(16), Some variations of the rolling friction coefficient with the rota- the normal loads Q = 8.68 mN and Q = 33.2 mN.
tional speed in the deceleration process are presented in Fig. 15
for normal load Q = 8.68 mN and 33.2 mN, respectively. It can be
Also, by Eq. (17) was determined the global friction coefficient
observed that by increasing of the normal load, the rolling friction
g and some variations were presented in Figs. 16 and 17 for nor-
coefficient decreases. For all the experiments, there were obtained
mal load Q = 8.68 mN and Q = 33.2 mN, respectively. Values between
values for rolling friction coefficient between 0.0002 and 0.0004.
0.0002 and 0.0005 were obtained. The global friction coefficient
The maximum contact pressure between the microball and the
has greater values that the rolling friction coefficient and increases
races has values between 0.28 GPa and 0.48 GPa, when the normal
by the increasing of the rotational speed. The global friction coef-
load Q increases from 8.68 mN to 33.2 mN, respectively.

Fig. 14. The variation of the rolling friction torques Mr with normal load and rota-
tional speed. Fig. 16. The variation of the global friction coefficient for normal load Q = 8.68 mN.
 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852
Fig. 17. The variation of the global friction coefficient for normal load Q = 33.2 mN.
ficient can be correlated with the results obtained by McCarthy
et al. [4] in a planar-contact encapsulated microball bearing hav-
ing 0.285 mm diameter steel balls and silicon races. So, for normal
forces between 10 mN and 50 mN applied to the 90 microballs with
0.285 mm diameter situated between a silicon stator and a silicon
rotor tested in [4], the maximum Hertz contact pressure has values
between 0.16 GPa and 0.27 GPa, respectively. McCarthy et al. [4]
obtained for the normal force of 50 mN and for a rotational speed
of 250 rpm a global friction coefficient of 0.0005, with the similar
values obtained in our experiments.
4.4. Comments on the experimental results
The very low values for the global and rolling friction coefficients
suggest a dominance of the rolling friction in the contacts between
the microballs and the two discs.
The geometry of the contacts between the 3 microballs and the
raceways of the disc 1 and 2 is similarly with an axial ball bear-
ing where two supplementary sliding effects can appear: spinning
effect and gyroscopic effect [7]. The sliding motion caused by spin-
ning effect on the contact ellipse are depending on the dimensions
of the semi-major axis of the contact ellipse and has small effect as
a result of very low dimensions of contact ellipse.
In Appendix A is presented the kinematics and dynamics of the
microball spin motion on the contact ellipse between the microball
and a race. Therefore, by considering a contact between a ball and
the race of the disc 2, the sliding speed caused by spin motion is
given by Eq. (A1) and is depending of the semi-major axis ac of the
contact ellipse. The geometry of the contact and the distribution of
the sliding speed caused by spin motion are presented in Fig. A1.
For the maximum load used in the experiments (Q = 33.2 mN),
the semi-major contact ellipse axis has 6.5 ␮m and maximum slid-
ing speed caused by spin motion is 70 ␮m/s when the rotation
speed of the disc 2 is 210 rot/min.
The power loss generated by the spin motion in a contact ellipse
can be estimated by Eq. (A5).
To quantify the influence of the power loss generated by the
spin motion on the sum of the rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ),
a power losses model for the microtribometer has been developed
and presented in the Appendix B.
By considering the equilibrium between the active powers (iner-
tial power of the disc 2 and of the 3 microballs) and the loss powers
(powers dissipated in the rolling motion of the microballs, in the
849
spin motion of the microballs and by the friction of the disc 2 with
air) it was obtained the differential equation (B7). In the Eq. (B7)
the parameter a1 includes the effect of the spin motion and is given
by Eq. (B8). Eq. (B7) is similarly to the Eq. (8) and it was used the
same procedure to be integrated by considering the new form of
the parameter c as in Eq. (B9).
By using Eq. (B7) and imposing the value of 0.1 for the slid-
ing friction coefficient  in the spin motion of the microballs,
was determined the new values for the sum of friction torques,
(Mr1 + Mr2 ).
In Fig. B1 are presented the differences between the friction
torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) determined by Eq. (8) without spin motion
of the microballs and by Eq. (B7) considering spin motion of the
microballs. It can be observed that by including the effect of the
microballs spin motion, the sum of the friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 )
decreases compared with the values previously determined by the
Eq. (8). The differences between the values are about 4% at the nor-
mal load of 8.68 mN and increases up to 9% for the normal load of
33.2 mN.
Also, the total power losses dissipated in the spin motion, Ps,b ,
represents about 3.8% from the total inertial power, (Pi,d + Pi,b ), for
the normal load Q = 8.68 mN and increases up to 8.5% for the normal
load Q = 33.2 mN. As a first approximation, the effect of the balls spin
motion can be neglected for the normal loads conditions used in the
experiments.
By increasing of the normal load, the effect of the balls spin
motion must be considered, and Eq. (8) must be replaced by Eq.
(B7). In the same time, experimentally investigations must be real-
ized with a pin on disc machine to determine the sliding friction
coefficient  for the spin motion according to the test conditions
(very low sliding speeds and low normal loads).
The gyroscopic motion of the microballs can appear in the
microball-race contacts if exists the following condition [7]:
Mg >  · Q · d (20)
where Mg is the gyroscopic moment of the microball and  is the
sliding friction coefficient between the microball and race.
For an axial ball bearing the gyroscopic moment acting of a ball
is given by equation [7]:
1
Mg = · b · · d5 · ωrb · ωb (21)
60
where b is the density of the ball in kg/m3 and ωrb is the angu-
lar speed of the ball around his rotational axis given by equation:
ωrb = (r/d) · ω2 .
For the maximum rotational speed of the disc 2 of 210 rpm, the
gyroscopic moment acting on a microball has about 5·10−9 Nm
while the product  · Q · d is between (1.3–5.3)·10−6 Nm by con-
sidering a sliding friction coefficient  = 0.1 and a variation of the
normal load Q between 8.68 mN and 33.2 mN. It can be observed
that the condition of gyroscopic sliding expressed by Eq. (20) is not
realized, that means the inexistence of the sliding friction caused
by gyroscopic effect.
In the dry rolling of a ball over a race some energy losses appears
and can be included in the rolling friction torque Mr [8]: hys-
teresis losses, losses caused by the microslips on contact ellipse,
energy dissipated due to surface roughness, energy dissipation due
to adhesion effects. So, it can be written that Mr = Mh +Mc + Mrs + Ma ,
where Mh is the rolling friction torque generated by elastic hystere-
sis in the contact materials, Mc is the rolling friction torque caused
by the Heathcote microslips [9], Mrs is the rolling friction torque
caused by the presence of the roughness on contact surfaces and
Ma is the rolling friction torque caused by the adhesion effects.
The hysteresis losses generated in a rolling contact between a
steel ball and a steel race can be expressed by a rolling friction
850 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852
torque Mh given by equation [10]:
 d 0.33  
Mh = 7.48 · 10−7 .Q 1.33 . 1 − 3.519 · 10−3 (k∗ − 1)
0.8063
2 methodology to determine the rolling friction torques and rolling
where k* is the ellipticity parameter given by relation
k* = 1/(1 − d/2 · Rc ).
When the normal load Q has values between 8.68 mN and
33.2 mN the friction torque Mh have values between 0.13 ␮Nmm
and 0.76 ␮Nmm, respectively.
It can be observed that the friction torque generated by the hys-
teresis effect varies between 6% and 11% from the measured friction
torque for a microball-race contact when normal load Q increases
from 8.68 mN to 33.2 mN, respectively.
The friction torque caused by the microslips in a contact
between a ball and a groove race Mc , can be expressed by equation
[9]:
a2c
Mc = 0.16 ·  · Q ·
d
where ac is the semi-major axis of the contact ellipse and  is the
sliding friction coefficient between the microball and the race.
When the normal load Q has values between 8.68 mN and
33.2 mN the friction torque Mc has values between 0.002 ␮Nmm
and 0.015 ␮Nmm, respectively for a given friction coefficient
␮ = 0.1. These values for the friction torque Mc not exceed 2% from
the measured friction torque and can be neglected for the very low
normal loads.
The Eqs. (22) and (23) are used in ball bearing analysis under
normal contact loads and not consider the roughness on contact
surfaces.
The presence of the roughness on the contact surfaces leads to
increases of the rolling friction with an additional friction torque
Mrs . The effect of roughness on increasing the rolling friction is
explained in [8] by two mechanisms: plastic deformations of the
top of irregularities and by climbing up of the irregularities. The
plastic deformations of the roughness are not probably developed
at very low loads as in our experiments. The climbing up of the
irregularities can appear at low loads and hard roughness contact
surfaces [8] and can explain the presence of an additional fric-
tion torque Mrs . Important increasing of the sum of rolling friction
torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) was observed by increasing the roughness of
the race from the disc 2 while the roughness of the race from the
disc 1 and from the microballs was not changed. So, for a normal
load Q = 15 mN and a roughness Ra = 0.5 ␮m for the race of the disc
2, the sum of rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 ) was increased up to
(16–22) ␮Nmm for rotational speed between 30 rpm and 210 rpm.
In the microsystems with very low loads, the adhesion effects
can generate the surface forces having magnitude comparable
with active forces. The presence of some molecular water layers
condensed on the surfaces in contact caused by the atmospheric
humidity leads to increases the rolling friction with an additional
friction torque Ma as result of capillary effects. During the exper-
iments was observed that low temperature and high atmospheric
humidity leads to increasing the rolling friction torques caused by
the condensed water on the contact surfaces. The experiments real-
ized in [5] evidenced important increasing of the rolling friction
torque for microballs of 1 to 3 mm diameter caused by capillary
effects. In addition, important influences on rolling friction torques
caused by the cleaning conditions of the microballs and races were
observed.
Our opinion is that the roughness and adhesion have the most
important effects on rolling friction torque for the experimental
conditions proposed in this paper. Future experiments will give
quantitative effects of the roughness and adhesion on the rolling
friction torque.
5. Conclusions
The authors developed a new microtribometer and a new
(22)
friction coefficient by monitoring the variation in time of the angu-
lar position of an inertial rotating disc sustained by three microballs,
in the deceleration process.
By considering that the inertial energy of the rotating disc is
dissipated both in rolling contacts and in the friction with air, the
differential equation of the inertial rotating disc was obtained. The
differential equation was solved by considering two hypothesis:
(i) the friction torques generated in the contacts of the microballs
with the discs are not depending on the rotational speed in dry
contacts and (ii) the friction torques generated in the contacts of the
microballs with the discs have a linear variation with the rotational
speed.
To validate these hypothesis were realised a lot of experiments
with a variation of rotational speed between 30 rpm and 210 rpm
(23) and with a variation of a normal load in the rolling contact between
8.68 mN and 33.2 mN. The hypothesis based on the constant friction
torques was validated as a good hypothesis in dry conditions.
The analytical model with the hypothesis of the constant fric-
tion torques was applied to all experimental data and the rolling
friction torques having values between 1.9 ␮Nmm and 7.4 ␮Nmm
was obtained. No important variation of the rolling friction torques
with the rotational speed of the inertial disc was observed between
30 and 150 rpm. By increasing the speed from 150 rpm to 210 rpm
it can be observe that the friction torques have small increases
with rotational speed, which can be explained by increasing of the
rotating disc’s vibration. The spin motion of the microballs over
the contact ellipses has been evaluated and his influence on the
rolling friction torques not exceed 9% for the maximum normal load
tested of 33.2 mN. As a consequence, for the normal loads used in
the tests, the spin motion of the microballs was not considered in
the analytical model.
The average rolling friction coefficient in the contact of the
microballs and race has been determined and values between
0.0002 and 0.0004 were obtained in dry conditions.
The global friction coefficient between the three microballs and
the inertial disc has been determined and values between 0.0002
and 0.0005 were obtained in dry conditions. The values of the global
friction coefficient obtained by our methodology can be correlated
with the results obtained by McCarthy et al. [4].
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by Romanian CNCSIS Grant ID 607 no.
381/1.10.2007.
Appendix A. Evaluation of the spin losses in the
microball-race contacts
On the contact ellipse between a microball and the race of the
disc 2, the sliding speed in the rolling direction has the following
distribution (see Fig. A1):
   
ω2 2r 2
vs (x) = (r + x) − Rd2 − x2 − Rd2 − ac 2 + (0, 5 · d) − ac 2 (A1)
2 d
where ac is the semi-major axis of the contact ellipse and Rd is the
radius of the deformed contact between the microball and race,
expressed by the relation:
2 · Rc · d
Rd = (A2)
2 · Rc + d
The parameter x varies between −ac and +ac .
 D.N. Olaru et al. / Wear 271 (2011) 842–852 851

Fig. A1. The sliding speed distribution in the spin motion of a ball over the race of
the disc 2.
As result of the sliding speed distribution, the microball is
rotated with a spin motion having the angular speed ωs given by
the equation:
Fig. B1. The differences between the sum of rolling friction torques (Mr1 + Mr2 )
determined without considering spin motion of the microballs (black points) and
by considering spin motion of the microballs (white points) for normal loads Q = 8
68 mN and Q = 33.2 mN.
are: ωb = 0.5 · ω2 and ωr,b = (r/d) · ω2 . With this hypothesis following
equations for the total inertial power of the microballs results:
  

ω2 r 2·r 2 3 · mb · r 2 dω2
ωs = +1 − (0.5 · d) − a2c (A3) Pi,b = · · ω2 (B3)
2 ac ac · d 4 dt
Also, the total power losses in the rolling contacts between the three
For the microball having the diameter d = 1.585 mm and for the
microballs and the races can be expressed by equation:
radius r = 8.4 mm the angular speed ωs has values between 0.513ω2
and 0.523ω2 , when the semi-major axis ac has values between 4 ␮m r
Pr,b = 3 · · (Mr1 + Mr2 ) · ω2 (B4)
and 7 ␮m, respectively. d
The friction torque developed as a result of the pivoting motion The total power losses caused by the spin motion results from Eqs.
can be expressed by the equation [7]: (A5) and (A3) can be expressed by following equation:
9
 2·r
 
3 2
Ms = ·  · Q · ac (A4) Ps,b = ·  · Q · (r + ac ) − · (0, 5 · d) − ac 2 · ω2 (B5)
8 8 d

where  is the friction coefficient in the pivoting motion. The power loss caused by the friction between the disc 2 and air is:
The total power loss dissipated in pivoting motion for all the 6
Pa = cf · ω23 (B6)
contacts between the 3 microballs and the two discs is:
By using Eqs. (B2)–(B6) in the powers equilibrium Eq. (B1) results
9
Ps,b = ·  · Q · ac · ωs (A5) following differential equation:
4
dω2
= a · (Mr1 + Mr2 ) + a1 + b · ω2 (B7)
Appendix B. Evaluation of the power losses in the dt
microtribometer Eq. (B7) is similarly with Eq. (8) where a and b are constants defined
by the Eqs. (9) and (10) and parameter a1 represents the influence
In the inertial motion of the disc 2 from the start of the decelera- of the spin motion and has following equation:
tion process to his completely stop, the kinetic energy of the disc 2      
and of the three microballs are dissipated in the friction processes 9 r 2
a1 = ·  · Q · (r + ac ) − 2 · · (0, 5 · d) − a2c
both in the microball - races contacts and in the disc-air contact 8 d
and following equation of the powers equilibrium can be written:  3 −1
· J+ · mb · r 2 (B8)
Pi,d + Pi,b = Pr,b + Ps,b + Pa (B1) 4

where Pi,d is the power of the disc 2 in the inertial motion, Pi,b is By integrating the equation (B7) can be obtained equations for
the total power of the three microballs in the inertial revolution angular speed ω2 (t) and angular position ϕ2 (t) similar to the Eqs.
motion around the center of the two discs, Pr,b is the total power (11) and (12) respectively, with the following relation for the
loss generated by the rolling contacts between the microballs and parameter c:
the discs, Ps,b is the total power loss generated in the spin motion 
c= [a · (Mr1 + Mr2 ) + a1 ] · b (B9)
of the microballs over the contact ellipses and Pa is the power loss
generated by the friction between the disc 2 and air.
The inertial power of the disc 2 can be expressed by equation: References

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