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Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of

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Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of

Constant-Velocity Joints
Chul-Hee Lee a; Andreas A. Polycarpou a
a
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana,
Illinois, USA

First Published on: 01 October 2005

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 Tribology Transactions, 48: 505-514, 2005
Copyright
C Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers
ISSN: 1040-2004 print / 1547-357X online
DOI: 10.1080/05698190500313528
Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction
Characteristics of Constant-Velocity Joints
CHUL-HEE LEE and ANDREAS A. POLYCARPOU
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
Constant-velocity (CV) joints have become standard design
and an integral part of modern vehicles, primarily due to their
superiority in terms of CV torque transfer. Despite widespread
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009
usage of constant velocity joints there are certain aspects of their
friction, wear, and contact characteristics that are not well un-
derstood. In this article, the need to directly measure CV joint
internal contact and friction forces is addressed by designing
and constructing an instrumented advanced CV joint friction
apparatus using actual tripod-type joint assemblies. The appa-
ratus is capable of measuring key performance parameters such
as friction and wear under different realistic operating condi-
tions of oscillatory speeds and CV joint articulation angles. The
apparatus incorporates a custom-installed triaxial force sensor
inside of the CV joint to measure in situ internal CV joint forces
(including friction). The CV joint apparatus is under full com-
puter control and is communicating with all measurement com-
ponents via a master Labview control program. Experiments
under different articulation angles and lubrication conditions
were performed and the measurements were correlated with
published data.
KEY WORDS
Automotive Tribology; Friction Testing; Boundary Friction;
Constant-Velocity Joints
INTRODUCTION
Constant-velocity (CV) joints are an integral part of modern
vehicles; they significantly affect steering, suspension, and ve-
hicle vibration comfort levels. Figure 1 shows a typical vehicle
front-wheel-drive configuration with CV joints. Each driveshaft
comprises two types of CV joints, namely fixed and plunging types,
connected via a shaft, and their primary function is to transmit
the engine torque to the wheels. The main friction challenges in
such CV joints are concerned with plunging CV joints because
their function is to compensate for the length changes due to
steering motion, wheel bouncing, and engine movement. CV
Presented at the STLE Annual Meeting
in Las Vegas, Nevada
May 15-19, 2005
Manuscript approved August 6, 2005
Review led by Bill Marscher
505
joints have superior performance compared to universal joints
because they eliminate uneven rotating torque. Moreover, CV
joints provide coupling forces and moments between connected
substructures, as well as localized damping dissipation (Schmelz,
et al. (1); Wagner, et al. (2)).
Although CV joints are very common in vehicles, there are
certain aspects of their internal friction and contact dynamics that
are not fully understood or modeled. Such unknown effects in-
clude internal friction, which includes micro- and macroslip be-
tween rubbing structural interfaces; strong nonlinearities due to
microimpacts caused by looseness of joint connections; and uncer-
tainties of interfacial parameters such as surface roughness. These
effects are not generally predictable and repeatable, thus causing
uncertainty in performance and reliability predictions. In general,
there is a lack of understanding in the behavior of internal friction
in CV joints. Current research works on modeling CV joint effects
on vehicle performance assume constant empirical friction coeffi-
cient values. Such models, however, have long been known to be
inaccurate, especially under dynamic conditions, which is the case
for CV tripod joints.
Despite significant technological improvements in CV joints
through design modifications, new designs, improved materials,
and better tolerances (Schmelz, et al. (1); Wagner, et al. (2)), there
are still potential issues associated with such joints and their effect
on vehicle vibrations. For example, a main CV joint problem is
the so-called take-off shudder, which generally occurs when the
vehicle moves (starts) abruptly. This problem is mostly related to
the internal friction in the CV joint, which consequently generates
an axial force known as generated axial force (GAF). Such poten-
tial problems are particularly troublesome when developing new
lines of vehicles, because the specific vehicle system dynamics and
resonances, as well as engine excitations, are unique for each de-
sign and are usually unknown during the design process, and their
coupling with CV nonlinear behavior may cause take-off shudder.
To avoid such potential problems, extensive testing with all new
model vehicles is usually undertaken, which leads to longer and
costly development periods. Better understanding of the nonlin-
ear dynamic interfacial friction behavior of CV joints can provide
powerful design tools and can lead to the development of basic
CV joint friction models that can reduce the development cycle of
new vehicles.
Because of the importance of CV joints as well as their com-
plexity, specialized CV joint apparatuses have been presented
 506 C.-H. LEE AND A. A. POLYCARPOU
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Fig. 1—Front-wheel-drive configuration showing typical CV joints.
in the literature to measure different aspects of CV joint be-
havior. For example, Philpott, et al. (3) developed a tester and
implemented a two-phase surface-fitting regression algorithm to
quantify the race track wear in ball-type CV joints. Biermann (4)
designed an apparatus to accurately measure the efficiency of CV
joints by recording power and heat losses. Kernizan, et al. (5) de-
veloped a tester to assess the performance of grease by measuring
the temperature rise in CV joints. Jia, et al. (6) investigated the
dynamic performance of tripod-type CV joints and designed an
experimental tester to measure the effect of the clearance on their
dynamic response. Finally, Kochersberger (7) patented an appa-
ratus to detect defects in CV joints by measuring irregular vibra-
Fig. 2—Schematic of the CV joint friction apparatus.
tion patterns during CV joint operation. Despite these advances in
measuring CV joint parameters, none of these works directly mea-
sures internal CV joint friction, which is undertaken in this study.
In this article, we present an advanced well-instrumented CV
joint apparatus to experimentally investigate the internal friction
in CV joints. The emphasis is on a class of CV joints called tripod
joints, whose use has been favored, especially for automatic
transmission vehicles. This is due to their noise and vibration
advantages and because they offer lower plunging resistance
compared to ball-type joints. Specifically in this work, we designed
and constructed an instrumented CV joint apparatus capable of
testing actual CV joints to measure their internal friction char-
acteristics under simulated vehicle operating conditions. Such
measurements will provide a better understanding of CV joint
friction characteristics that can be used in designing improved CV
joints.
DESCRIPTION OF CV JOINT APPARATUS
AND INSTRUMENTATION
A dedicated and instrumented CV joint apparatus was con-
structed to conduct a controlled realistic experiment to measure
friction (and, possibly wear) of actual (full-scale) CV joints. Such
tests enable measurements of key performance parameters, such
as internal friction between ball and housing, under different re-
alistic operating conditions. These experiments established a set
of critical parameters and provided useful information about CV
joint internal friction that was not available before. An overall
schematic of the apparatus is shown in Fig. 2 and the main capa-
bilities of the apparatus are as follows:
1. statically control and vary the CV joint installation (also known
as articulation) angle;
2. control and vary the input torque;
 Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of Constant-Velocity Joints
3. control and vary the linear stroke motion; and
4. test actual CV joints.
A unique feature of the apparatus is that the actual CV joint
is retrofitted with a three-axis piezoelectric force transducer for
in situ measurement of internal CV joint forces including fric-
tion. Such experiments provide information on the relationship
between the different internal friction components and the GAF.
Explanation of the function of each of the main components of the
apparatus and how it is used to simulate realistic CV joint motions
in vehicles are described next.
Sliding Motion and Height/Angle Adjustment
Mechanism
Sliding motion and a height/angle adjustment mechanism was
designed to provide a plunging motion (stroke) using a linear ac-
tuator and servomotor control drive, as shown in Fig. 2. The linear
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plunging motion was controlled by a linear brushless servocon-
troller using programmed PLC (Programmable Logic Control)
sequential codes. Using the quadrature encoder resolution of the
linear actuator, the linear displacement and velocity were precisely
controlled. It was first confirmed that the linear motion correctly
tracks the specified displacement and velocity commands by mon-
itoring the encoder signal directly through the digital input on the
data acquisition (DAQ) board. After eliminating small misalign-
ments between the actuator and the CV joint specimen, we were
able to generate precise motion trajectories and transmit these
motions through rigid connections to the CV joint assembly.
A fixture was also designed to directly attach the ball-joint
part of the CV joint assembly to the linear actuator. This fixture
can adjust the height of one of the ends of the CV joint, thus
being able to change the CV joint articulation angle, which is a
major factor affecting the plunging joint friction during tests. In
actual vehicles, this mechanism simulates the articulation angle
and plunging motions in the CV joint due to wheel bouncing as
well as steering motion and engine movement. The height-adjust
mechanism is a four-bar linear bearing structure, enabling smooth
vertical movement as well as providing rigidity of the fixture.
The apparatus can supply a maximum articulation angle of 15◦ , a
plunging force of 100 N, and a maximum oscillation frequency of
25 Hz. A summary of the CV joint friction apparatus specifications
are given in Table 1.
Static Torque Generating Mechanism
The static torque is applied manually with a hand crank and
gearbox mechanism to simulate the abrupt start of actual vehicles.
It uses a worm gear mechanism and a reduction gear with a flexi-
ble coupling between them. The design is such that it can generate
a maximum static torque of 1000 Nm. This mechanism was also
used to attach the tripod joint to the static torque generator. This
part utilizes a thrust bearing because the sliding resistance also
TABLE 1—SPECIfiCATIONS OF CV JOINT FRICTION APPARATUS
Articulation Angle Max 15◦
Plunging Capacity Max 100 N at 25 Hz
Plunging Frequency 1 mm/25 Hz to 50 mm/0.02 Hz
Static Torque Max 1000 Nm
507
generates a thrust force at the bearing. The applied torque and
generated thrust force are measured directly using a force/torque
strain gauge transducer attached between the CV joint and the
torque mechanism as shown in Fig. 2. Note that, in typical test
stands used for CV joint testing, one typically only measures the
GAF (thrust force) during simulated load inputs to evaluate the
performance of CV joints. This is a crude method of CV joint per-
formance evaluation because, for example, significant GAF infers
inadequate performance due to high internal CV joint friction but
without direct measurement of the internal friction and correla-
tion with GAF.
Instrumentation Development
In typical CV joint tests (e.g., Wagner, et al. (2)), the internal
CV joint friction is typically measured externally using a thrust
load cell at the end of the CV joint as described earlier. However,
the complexity of the sliding and rolling interfaces in a typical
tripod CV joint are such that the overall external axial force is
inadequate to reveal details of the internal CV joint forces, in-
cluding friction. To this extent, and to measure the internal fric-
tion components directly during the experiments, a triaxial force
transducer was installed inside the spider assembly as shown in
the photographs of Fig. 3. This was accomplished by precisely cut-
ting out one of the trunnions and then milling a hole to insert
the force transducer. Subsequently, the trunnion was reassembled
using the triaxial force transducer’s preload bolt. After installing
and preloading the transducer, the triaxial forces were calibrated
using the manufacturer’s suggested calibration procedures and
confirmed using known dead weights (i.e., statically calibrated).
A possible concern in this triaxial force transducer design was the
crosstalk between each orthogonal force axis, which was measured
and in all cases found to be less than 2%. The force transducer
assembly accurately measures the internal frictional forces that
occur along each axis of the CV joint. Based on its method of at-
tachment (see Fig. 3), one of the transducer output directions is
exactly parallel to the shaft axis; thus, at any instance during an
experiment, the directions of the three orthogonal axes of mea-
surement were precisely known.
As the linear actuator (see Fig. 2) initiates the CV joint
movement, two displacement measurements are monitored us-
ing (a) the encoder that is inside the linear actuator and (b) an
Fig. 3—Installation of triaxial force transducer: (a) assembled and
(b) disassembled.
 508 C.-H. LEE AND A. A. POLYCARPOU

TABLE 2—SPECIfiCATIONS OF SENSORS FOR THE CV JOINT FRICTION and implemented. Such a master control program provides accu-
APPARATUS rate triggering and synchronizing of the apparatus components
Sensor Measurement Specification and at the same time precisely capturing and digitally recording
all measurements. Specifically, the linear actuator, which generates
Triaxial Force 3-axis forces Sensitivity: Fx & Fy = 3.2
the force to linearly move the CV joint, is controlled by the com-
Transducer pC/N, Fz = 3.8 pC/N
puter via a drive/controller and its movement is limited/controlled
Range: Fx & Fy = −2.5 to
using a limit sensor. Using three-phase, 230-V AC power, the per-
2.5 kN, Fz = −5 to 5 kN
Thrust/Torque Thrust force and Capacity: 10,000 lbs-in. formance of the servomotor attached to the linear actuator was
Sensor applied torque torque 6000 lbs thrust significantly increased. To precisely measure the torque applied
Encoder Actuator linear Quadrature encoder to the CV joint with the static torque generator, a two-axis strain-
displacement resolution: 1000 lines, gauge force/torque sensor was installed and the outputs were dis-
4000 counts/rev played on digital meters (for easy viewing) and also fed to the
LVDT CV joint actual Spring-loaded gauge computer for digital recording. The thrust GAF output, which is
displacement head type typically measured in such experiments, represents the combined
Range: 2 (50.8 mm) CV joint frictional and other internal forces. The internal triaxial
Accelerometer CV joint housing Sensitivity: 102.3 mV/g
friction forces were measured directly using the embedded force
(Axial) axial acceleration
transducer, and the signal output is fed to the computer via signal
Accelerometer CV joint housing Sensitivity: 9.49 mV/g
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conditioners and analog-to-digital converters.

(Vertical) vertical
acceleration
external LVDT displacement sensor that is in contact with the
spider inside the CV joint. Thus, the encoder measures the in-
put displacement to the CV joint and the LVDT the net resultant
movement of the CV joint during experiments. In this work, both
displacement measurements were found to be very similar, imply-
ing that there was no significant backlash in the system, thus only
the encoder signal output will be analyzed. Finally, to capture any
sudden or jerky motions during the experiments, two miniature
accelerometers were attached on the CV joint, one in the vertical
and another in the axial direction, to measure the corresponding
accelerations. The specifications of the sensors used in the CV joint
friction apparatus are listed in Table 2.
CV Joint Friction Apparatus Assembly
Once all the apparatus components were designed and con-
structed, they were accurately aligned using a digital level gauge
and a dial gauge and assembled. Subsequently, a Labview master
control program, as also shown in the sketch of Fig. 2, was designed
The fully assembled CV joint apparatus is shown in the pho-
tograph of Fig. 4. Using this setup, the in situ three-axis CV joint
internal forces (designated Fx, Fy, and Fz), the applied torque,
and the axial thrust force were recorded during each experiment.
Also the linear actuator motor was simultaneously triggered via
Labview/PC. Using the piezoelectric triaxial force transducer in
charge-mode and long time constant signal conditioners, the in-
ternal CV joint forces were measured under dynamic conditions
while also capturing their DC components. The digital indicators
for the applied torque and thrust force were calibrated and their
signals were also sent to the PC via the data acquisition board. The
linear motion information from the encoder, which is part of the
servomotor and linear actuator, in the form of displacement and
velocity, were also recorded. Moreover, a linear motion control
box was constructed using manual switches to further manipulate
the CV joint position (i.e., set the initial homing position).
Once the designing and building of the CV joint apparatus was
completed, a Labview program was developed to control the over-
all experimental setup directly from a PC. Specifically, Labview
is used as a digital oscilloscope triggering mechanism, controlling
the linear motion and also recording the experimental output data.

Fig. 4—Photograph of CV joint friction apparatus and controls.

 Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of Constant-Velocity Joints 509

The computer monitor in Fig. 4 shows a typical Labview test panel

during experiments. The display show the three internal CV joint
force components, the thrust force, the applied torque, the en-
coder displacement and velocity, the LVDT displacement, and ax-
ial and normal accelerations. The input-output (I/O) connections
for each channel as used on the data acquisition board include
eight analogue input channels (three internal CV joint axial force
components, thrust force, applied torque, LVDT displacement, ax-
ial and vertical accelerations), two digital input channels (encoder
displacement and velocity), and a serial port for controlling the
linear actuator.

TEST PROCEDURE AND EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS

Fully assembled tripod-type CV joints were procured and a
Fig. 5—Components and triaxial force coordinates inside the tripod CV
typical CV joint was installed on the apparatus as shown in Figs. 2 joint.
and 4. The ball-joint side of the CV joint is clamped to the ap-
paratus using a machined spline, whereas the tripod-joint side is
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009

clamped using a tight-fit interference with secure clamping. After components Fy and Fz represent the axial and vertical friction
secure clamping of the CV joint on the apparatus, its position was forces, respectively, which are the source of the total combined
articulated and preset to a specified articulation angle by adjusting friction force Q as shown in Fig. 6. One can also calculate the net
the height mechanism and measuring the articulation angle using friction coefficient at the CV joint as follows:
a precise digital level gauge. Because the tests were under loaded Q F y cos β + F z sin β
conditions, a static torque was applied to the CV joint by cranking µ= = [1]
P Fx
the worm gear mechanism. The preset static torque values were
where β is the CV joint articulation angle, as also shown in Figs. 5
monitored on the digital display of the torque transducer; typical
and 6. Notice that this equation is only valid when the trunnion
static torque values used in this work ranged from 50 to 100 Nm.
with the triaxial force sensor is in the top position, as shown in
Once the CV joint assembly was secured, aligned at the cor-
Fig. 5.
rect articulation angle, and the static torque was set, experiments
were performed by plunging the CV joint two full cycles of +15
and −15 mm from the joint center position with a typical veloc- TYPICAL EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
ity of 2 mm/s. This is a typical travel distance in actual automo- To investigate experimental repeatability, several experiments
tive CV joints and simulates the slow motions of wheel bouncing under identical experimental conditions of 0◦ articulation angle
and steering. Experiments were repeated at two different artic- and grease lubrication were performed. The grease used was a
ulation angles, these being 0◦ , representing idealistic conditions standard petroleum hydrocarbon with additives CV joint grease
with minimal internal friction and GAF, and 10◦ , representing ag- and was applied to the rollers and the CV joint housing. In these
gressive conditions with significant CV joint friction and GAF. To experiments the rubber seal (boot) that seals the grease in the
study the effect of grease on the internal CV joint friction, exper- CV joint housing was not installed, to allow easy accessibility and
iments were performed under both dry unlubricated and grease
lubricated conditions. The details of the experimental conditions
used in this study are summarized in Table 3. During each exper-
iment, all sensor signals were fed to the DAQ board after signal
conditioning.
The components and directions of the three force components
measured with the triaxial force sensor installed inside the CV
joint are depicted in Fig. 5. Force component Fx represents the
normal force P and is directly related to the applied torque. Force

TABLE 3—EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS

Temperature 22.5◦ C
Humidity 40-50% RH
Articulation Angle (β) 0◦ /10◦
Linear Stroke ±15 mm (2 cycles)
Stroke Velocity 2 mm/s
Applied Torque 50 Nm static
Lubrication Status Dry/grease Fig. 6—Internal force components and friction coefficient calculation at
a trunnion contact.
 510 C.-H. LEE AND A. A. POLYCARPOU
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009

Fig. 7—Experimental data showing repeatability (grease-lubricated conditions, articulation angle β = 0◦ ).

visualization. Three typical experiments captured over two com-
plete cycles (60 s) are depicted in Fig. 7. From the results, it is
clearly seen that the experiments are highly repeatable.
As shown in Fig. 7(h), the experiments start with the CV joint
spider being in the center position of the housing (at time t = 0),
then moving inward in the housing for 15 mm (at t = 7.5 s it reaches
the end position), and then moving all the way toward the outward
position of the housing, passing through the center position (at
t = 22.5 s it reaches the farthest outward position) and then moving
to the center position (at t = 30 s one full cycle is completed).
The exact same cycle is repeated, thus a total of 60 s of data were
recorded, as depicted in Fig. 7(h). The force components inside the
CV joint as measured with the triaxial force transducer (Fx, Fy,
and Fz) show some variation with the CV joint stroke. The positive
directions for these forces are also clearly indicated in Fig. 5. The
Fx or normal force P is of the order of 700 N and remains relatively
constant throughout the full stroke with small decreases during
motion reversals, as shown in Fig. 7(a). The Fy force shown in
Fig. 7(b), which in this case is also the friction force (Fig. 7(d)) since
the articulation angle β = 0 (see Eq. [1]) is nominally constant
 Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of Constant-Velocity Joints
around 65 N, with a resulting friction coefficient value of slightly
less than 0.1 (i.e., µ = 0.1), as shown in Fig. 7(e). Interestingly, the
force Fz shown in Fig. 7(c), which acts perpendicular to the CV
joint shaft (and in this case of β = 0, perpendicular to the housing)
is negative during the inward stroke, which means that the force
is acting downward, or in compression in regard to the spider
assembly, whereas Fz is positive during the outward stroke. The
reason for this is because the contact between the roller and the
housing does not occur at the center of the roller, thus giving rise
to a net contact force in the z direction. Recall that the behavior
of these forces is somewhat complicated because of the initial
constant torque of 50 Nm that was applied to the CV joint, as
shown in Fig. 7(g). Small torque changes during the experiment
are attributed to small irregularities in the housing surface, with
the changes being coincident with the stroke changes.
The external thrust force acting in the horizontal axial direction
and shown in Fig. 7(f) has an absolute mean value of 60 N, which
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009
is similar to the actual internal friction force. Note, however, that
this is the total force due to the forces from all three trunnions of
the CV joint, whereas the internal trunnion forces were measured
on only one of the trunnions. Also, the thrust force variation seems
to correlate with the Fz force variation (i.e., it is lower during the
inward stroke of the CV joint).
Shown in Fig. 7(i) is the axial acceleration measured on the
outside of the CV joint housing. Even though there is some vi-
bration during the CV joint operation, its magnitude is small (less
than 0.1 g) and no obvious vibration bursts were observed dur-
ing motion reversals. Note that at higher plunging frequencies
(not shown in the figure), distinct vibration bursts were clearly
measured.
Fig. 8—Averaged friction coefficient and external axial force vs. stroke at articulation angle β = 0◦ (grease-lubricated conditions).
511
Figure 8 depicts the averaged internal friction coefficient as
well as the external axial friction coefficient versus stroke for
the three experiments shown in Fig. 7 at an articulation angle of
β = 10◦ . Note that the negative direction of the GAF thrust (or
tension force) is the same as the positive direction of the internal
friction force. The absolute value of the external friction coeffi-
cient is lower than the internal friction coefficient. The external
friction coefficient was calculated by dividing the external GAF
by the applied normal force of 694.4 N (obtained from the value of
the applied torque). Based on Fig. 8, in the case of the measured
internal friction coefficient, a small hysteresis is observed between
the inward and outward strokes, with the inward strokes exhibiting
slightly higher friction coefficient values, i.e., the hysteretic loop
behavior is clockwise. Furthermore, the friction is lower on the
inside than the outside sides of the CV joint. In the case of the
GAF-based external friction coefficient, not only is the hysteretic
behavior larger, but most importantly the friction trend is differ-
ent; that is, the inward strokes exhibit a lower friction coefficient
than the outward strokes, which is opposite from the measured
internal friction coefficient.
Next, experiments with an articulation angle of β = 10◦ were
conducted under both dry unlubricated and grease lubricated con-
ditions, using the same grease as in the results of Fig. 7. These test
results are depicted in Fig. 9. The stroke length and stroke fre-
quency as well as the applied torque were identical to that of the
earlier experiments, as shown in Figs. 9(g) and 9(f). The three
internal forces depicted in Figs. 9(a)-9(c) (using the same axis
scale as Fig. 7) show increased fluctuations compared to the 0◦
articulation angle case. Distinctively different is the Fz force be-
havior where, for the grease-lubricated case, it is negative during
 512 C.-H. LEE AND A. A. POLYCARPOU
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009

Fig. 9—Experimental data comparing unlubricated (dry) and grease-lubricated conditions (articulation angle β = 10◦ ).

the inward stroke and positive during the outward stroke (for
both 0 and 10◦ articulation angles). For the unlubricated (dry)
case, Fx is approximately symmetric, with positive values dur-
ing the inward stroke and negative values during the outward
stroke. The reason for this difference is attributed to the pres-
ence of grease, and it is significant because Fz is directly re-
lated to the internal friction force via Eq. [1]. Indeed, as shown
in Fig. 9(d), the internal friction force Q for the unlubricated
case is higher and also exhibits a larger variation compared to
the grease-lubricated case. Moreover, the average friction force
and resulting friction coefficient shown in Fig. 7(e) for the 0◦
articulation angle are lower than that for the 10◦ articulation
angle.
The external thrust force shown in Fig. 9(f) exhibits a trend
opposite that of the friction force, even though its amplitude is of
the same order. That is, the external thrust force is lower during the
inward stroke than during the outward CV joint stroke, which is
opposite of the internal friction force behavior. This clearly shows
the inadequacy of the external thrust force, or GAF, to accurately
measure the internal friction in a CV joint.
 Development of an Apparatus to Investigate Friction Characteristics of Constant-Velocity Joints
Downloaded By: [University of Illinois] At: 15:08 8 September 2009
Fig. 10—Friction hysteresis: internal normal force P and combined friction force Q vs. stroke (articulation angle β = 10◦ ).
The aforementioned point is further demonstrated in Fig. 10,
which shows the internal normal force P (Fig. 10(a)) and the
combined friction Q and external thrust GAF (Fig. 10(b)) versus
stroke for one complete cycle. In the case of the internal normal
force, the dry case shows a smaller hysteretic loop and larger peaks
during motion reversals. For the case of internal friction force, the
grease-lubricated case exhibits a smaller hysteretic loop compared
to the dry case.
Figure 11 depicts the combined hysteretic behavior of the nor-
mal and frictional forces (i.e., the friction coefficient). The hys-
teric behavior of the friction coefficient is similar to that in the
friction force case, with the grease-lubricated case exhibiting less
hysteresis. Specifically, the friction coefficient for the grease case
ranges from 0.08 to 0.13 (lower values correspond to the outward
CV joint movement), which is slightly higher than the 0◦ artic-
Fig. 11—Friction coefficient hysteresis comparing dry and grease-
lubricated conditions (articulation angle β = 10◦ ).
513
ulation angle. These results qualitatively agree with the results
from Fish and Jinsheng (8), who reported that the friction coef-
ficient in a CV joint using normal grease was around 0.12-0.15,
it decreased to 0.08 with the use of a friction-modified grease,
and it was further reduced to 0.06 with a new class of CV joint
grease. It is interesting that the friction coefficient for the dry con-
dition is not significantly larger than for the grease lubricated con-
dition because it is in the range of 0.06 to 0.15 (i.e., exhibiting
larger hysteretic behavior). This is due to the fact that the main
contact is rolling and that the CV joint housing and roller sur-
faces were stabilized (run in). Even though the friction coefficient
for the dry and grease-lubricated cases is similar, it is expected
that the dry case will cause more wear than the grease-lubricated
case.
CONCLUSIONS
An advanced CV joint friction apparatus was designed and
constructed to perform realistic CV joint tests and measure in-
ternal CV joint forces including friction. This was accomplished
using a triaxial force transducer that was attached inside the CV
joint and was able to directly measure the internal forces in three
orthogonal axes during CV joint motions. In addition to these
measurements, the external torque and GAF were also measured
and correlated with the internal CV joint forces. The CV joint ap-
paratus is fully under computer control and is capable of perform-
ing versatile static and dynamic tests under realistic experimental
CV joint conditions. Several experiments were performed under
different articulation angles and lubrication conditions and it was
found that 1) larger articulation angle exhibits higher internal fric-
tion and 2) the grease-lubricated condition exhibits lower friction
coefficient than the dry unlubricated case. Furthermore, the results
indicate that the internal friction at a trunnion location, obtained
from the internal triaxial force transducer installed inside the CV
joint, does not always agree with the externally measured GAF.
Further investigation, including modeling work, is needed to fully
 514 C.-H. LEE AND A. A. POLYCARPOU
establish a correlation between the externally measured GAF and
the internal CV joint friction forces.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our thanks to Delphi Saginaw Steer-
ing Systems for funding of this project. Special thanks go to Wayne
Kieselbach and William P. Skvarla for coordinating the project and
supplying the samples, and to Mark W. McPherson for providing
useful advice and information in the design of the CV joint friction
apparatus.
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