Professional Documents
Culture Documents
net/publication/279601738
CITATIONS READS
18 93
2 authors, including:
Stephen Hsu
George Washington University
184 PUBLICATIONS 3,633 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
All content following this page was uploaded by Stephen Hsu on 26 October 2016.
Bench wear tests are sometimes used to eaaulate antiwear char- commercially and used extensively in industry for wear test-
acteristics of lubricating oils in engtnes' howeaer feu correlatioru
ing. The test is easy to conduct, well controlled, and uniform
Inthis study, uarious four-ball uear test method's test specimens are available at low cost. In wear testing, the
are published.
specimens basically undergo a destructive evaluation pro-
for eualuating the antiuear characteristics of automotiue lubricants cess. Test repeatability depends heavily on the uniformity
uere examined. Wear test procedures such as slow and fast sliding
of the test specimen. In the four-ball test, bearing balls with
speeds, load-capacitl tests, and step-loading tests were eualuated
roundness specification of 0.000635 mm (0.000025 inch)
wing a set of ASTM engine sequence IIID reference oils of known are readily available.
wear performance. Three test procedures were deueloped that cor-
related with IIID sequence wcar ralings. TEST PROCEDURES
A procedure can be defined as a particular set of oper-
INTRODUCTION ating conditions and sequences which are capable of certain
Automotive crankcase oil performance is defined by field precision. In the case of a four-ball wear tester, these con-
tests and laboratory engine sequence tests' In API/SAE/ ditions include speed/load combination, duration, bulk oil
ASTM SF classification, Passes in four engine dynamometer temperature, and cleaning methods involved.
tests are required for oil qualification' These are: A variety of load and speed combinations have been used
by previous workers to study basic mechanisms in boundary
(l) II-D rust protection lubrication (1)-(7).Some test procedures designed in par-
(2) III-D oxidation resistance, wear protection, oil con- ticular to evaluated engine oils used the load/speed com-
sumption bination of 1800 rpm and 50 kg (8), (9) but no correlation
(3) V-D low-temperature dispersancy, wear protection, with field performance was given. Traditionally, with the
deposit-forming tendencies four-ball wear tester, researchers use a high-load, low-speed
(4) L-38 copper-lead bearing corrosion resistance, shear combination (30 to 60 kg, 600 rpm) to study boundary lu-
stability. brication, or use more severe high-load, high-speed con-
For the last decade the engine sequence III test has been dition (30 to 60 kg, 1500 to 3000 rpm) to study transition
the standard engine test to evaluate oxidation and wear temperatures (7) for industrial lubricants. Brown (1) uses a
characteristics of automotive engine oils. load-capacity test procedure to evaluate lubricants. This
The engine tests are generally time consuming and ex- procedure consists of a set of individual tests as a function
pensive. Therefore, various small-scale laboratory bench tests of load that define the transition load of a lubricant, i.e.,
have been developed and used to screen oils for quality and the load at which the wear increases dramatically. No sys-
consistency. There are different opinions regarding the value tematic study has been found in the literature that relates
and significance of such bench tests. There are also very four-ball wear test results to automotive engine wear be-
few published studies relating bench test results to engine havior.
test results. This study will examine various bench 4-ball In engine sequence test III-D, the critical engine parts
wear test procedures for correlations with sequence III-D examined for wear are the cam and lifters. The primary
engine wear test data. lubrication mode under constant-speed highway driving
The four-ball wear tester was chosen because it is available conditions is generally accepted as elastohydrodynamic lu-
brication. Most of the wear occurs in stop-and-go, low-speed
driving cycles, under which boundary lubrication is a more
Presented at the 37th Annual Meeting
in Cincinnati, Ohio,
predominant mode. In simulating the wear conditions of
May 10-13,1982 an engine using a four-ball wear tester, major limitations
Taslr l-ASTM ENGTNE SrqurNcr III-D TEsI REFERENCE orr- Er.rcrNe wsen Dere
Avrnacr Cau
aNo Lrrrrn SraNoeno NuMsrn
RrrrnEncr Vrscosrty WEAR DrvrerroN WEAR OF
Orr- Gnaor m x 10-6 m x 10-6 RarrNc Tesrs
REO 76A l0w-40 48 23 Low r7
REO 75B l0w-30 46 25 Low l0
REO 79A l0w-30 48 l5 Low 7
Parametric Study S
Taslr 3-CoRRELATION or Paneuttnrc Sruov wrrH III-D WEAR ron RrmnrNcr O[s 764, 77B
Conditions: 75'C, 60 min, lO-ml lubricant
Wren Scen Dreyr.ltn, mm
E
E
tr
o
{J
c.6 0.6 0.6
c)
E
tU
.rt
o
t{
6
a
o 0.4 0.4 0.4
!
rd
o
B
778 High 0.55, 0.55 The NBS modified four-ball wear tester was used' The
77C* High Seizure, Seizure automatic torque shutoff safety device terminates a run when
(0.60) (0.5e)
a seizure is encountered. Runs that seize, therefore, do not
72A-l* High Seizure, Seizure
complete the 60-minute test duration and the resulting wear
(0.5e) (0.60)
scars cannot be plotted. The seizure itself can be detected,
+Did not complete test. Number in parenthesis indicates size of wear scar at
however, by observing the accompanying sudden and large
termination point.
friction increase.
The load capacity of an oil is dependent on the speed
conditions chosen for the test. Initially, two speeds were
used to check for correlation with III-D results using four
reference oils. Table 5 shows that at 600 rpm the test is so
severe that there is no separation. At 200 rpm, the test
o E
severity is reduced. Separation between the high- and low-
o wear reference oils is achieved'
E Results from 200-rpm load-capacity tests on all six ref-
.g D erence oils are shown in Table 6. Repeat runs were made
1f
L on both sides of the seizure load to ensure that the load
(U
o capacity was well defined and repeatable. The results show
o a separation between the load capacity of the low-wear ref-
(! erence oils (135 kg) and the high-wear reference oils (120,
o 105, 90 kg). This shows that, as a class, the low-wear ref-
c erence oils have the ability to suPport a higher load than
=
o) the high-wear reference oils.
o The load-capacity test evaluates the load-carrying capa-
bility of a lubricant but several tests are required in order
to obtain a satisfactory determination. This is not only time
consuming but also requires a relatively large amount of
log load lubricant. To circumvent this, step loading in a single test
Fig. 4-Typical load caPacity Plot was explored to evaluate the load capacity of the oils' This
56s
Joumal ol the Amorlcan Socloty ot Lubrlcatlon Englnoers
Tolque overload,
(Seizure) nachine -+ Tenr-r 7-Srip-LoADrNc SErzuRE TEsr REsuLTs oN
tulned of: III-D RErrnrNCE OrLs
Conditions: 200 rpm, 75"C,9 kg (20 lb) load increment
per every 5 min
ENGINE Avrnecr.
SEqurNcE Srrzunr Srrzunr SraNoano
Rrrunr.Ncr Loao
I
WEAR LoAD Drvte.rroN
Orr- RA1'rNG kg kg kg
76A Low 200 200
200
i 758 Low 227 209 l5
l9l
209
209
79A Low 218 218
218
778 High 145 168 ll
163
r, ,e -+ l8l
Fig. S-Typical step loading seizure test ,riction trace 172
172
172
r63
o
77C High r27 132
136
o REO 778
I
REO 76A 72A-r High 127 132
r 136
o
E
o
o
o
o
o load-capacity test, the seizure point is detected during a run
't81
'15
91 136 by observing the accompanying sudden and large increase
Load, kg
Fig. 6-Step-loading seizure test at 200 rpm
in friction.
Figure 5 is an example of the friction trace obtained from
the step-loading seizure test. Each load increase is accom-
panied by its corresponding increase in friction. At point
e A, seizure took place as the lubricant could no longer protecr
115 the surface. This is manifested by the dramatic increase in
c
o friction shown. The location of the friction spike determines
o REO 778 REO 76A
Er0 the seizure point and the load at the seizure point is re-
o corded as the seizure load.
co-
Test conditions were selected by performing a parametric
=o study of speed and load using a represenrarive high- (77B)
o
oo and low- (764.) wear reference oil. A step-loading increment
45 91 136 181
Load, kg of 9 kg at 200 rpm was selected based on the results of
Fig. 7-Steploadlng seizure test at 500 rpm preliminary tests shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The seizure points
depicted here as a rapid increase in the coefficient of friction
show that at 600 rpm the difference in the seizure load of
the two oils was only 9 kg. At 200 rpm, rhe seizure loads of
has the advantage of requiring only one run for a load- both oils were increased but the seizure load for the low-
capacity determination. wear reference oil increased more. f-his increased the sep-
aration to 54 kg. Dara on all six reference oils are shown in
Step-Loading Seizure Tests Table. 7. The low-wear reference oils all have higher seizure
The step-loading seizure test evaluares the load-carrying loads than the high-wear reference oils. Reference oils 77B
capability of a lubricant but in a different manner than the and 75B gave slightly more erratic results than the other
classical load-capacitv tesr. The information is obtained in reference oils. Additional tests were run on these oils in
a single test rather than a series of many individual tests. order to determine the repeatability of the test procedures
The load is increased by increments during a test under in these worst cases. The standard deviation of the results
constant speed until seizure occurs. The seizure point, like for these two cases were 15 and ll kg. Using these values,
the incipient seizure region in the load-capacity test, indi- an uncertainty of -r l3 kg was assigned to the seizure loads.
cates that the load capacity of the lubricant has been ex- The results of the step-loading seizure tests are presented
ceeded and an accelerated wear condition exists. As in the in bar graph formar in Fig. 8. The separation between the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
9I
The authors wish to thank Hilary Nottingham for her
work in conducting some of the wear tests, and the NBS
Recycled Oil Program for their financial support of this
45
72A-l 77C 77i 79L 758 76L work.
III0 Reference 0lls
Certain commercial equipment, instruments, or materials
are identified in this paper in order to adequately specify
Flg. 8-stoPloading sslzure test rcaults on lll'D r€f€renco oils.
the experimental procedure. Such identification does not
imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Bu-
low-wear and high-wear reference oils correlates with III-
reau of Standards, nor does it imply that the materials or
D Engine Sequence Test results.
equipment identified are necessarily the best available for
It should be pointed out that, although the load-capacity
the purpose.
test and the step-loading seizure test both rate the ability of
an oil to protect the surface under high load, no direct REFERENCES
comparison of the seizure loads can be made between the
two test methods. This is due to the fact that seizure loads (1) Brown, E. D., "Friction and wear testing with the modern four-ball
are a function of the test conditions, and conditions for the apparatus," Wear,17, pp 381-388 (1971).
two test procedures are significantly different. (2) Miller, A. H., "Considerations in interpreting four-ball data," Wear,23'
pp l2l-127 (1973).
(3) Feng, I. M., " A new approach in interpreting the four-ball wear results,"
CONCLUSION Wear,5, pp 275-288 (1962).
(4) Fein, R. S., "Measurement of Wear Volume and Interpretation of Re-
Three wear test procedures using the four-ball wear tester sults with Four-Ball Machines," Proc. 2nl Annual Conference of ASME
have been evaluated using ASTM engine Sequence III-D Lubric ation D iuision, Phrladelphia, PA ( I 959).
Reference oils. Based on the experimental results the fol- (J) Clinton, W. C., 'A Study of the Four-Ball Machine," NRL Report 3709
(Sept. 1950).
lowing conclusions can be reached. (6) Klaus, E. E. and Bieber, H. E., "Effects of Some Physical and Chemical
(l) Individual wear tests at a variety of speeds and loads Properties of Lubricants on Boundary Lubrication, ASL E Traru., 7, pp
failed to distinguish any performance difference be' r-r0, (1964).
(7) Fein, R. S., "Transition Temperatures with Four-Ball Machine,",4SLE
tween the oils selected at most of the speed/load com-
Trarc., 5, pp 34-39 (1960).
binations. However, positive correlation between bench (8) U.S. Patent 3,957,746. Assigned to Ethyl Corporation 1976.
test results and engine sequence III-D test results was (9) U.S. Patent 4,025,451. Assigned to Ethyl Corporation 1977.
(10) Groff, W. P. Jr., Roberts, C. E. and Lepisto, P. R., "New Lubricant Test
found at high load (91 kg) and low speed (200 rpm) Procedures for Gasoline Engines from the Viewpoint of an Indepen-
with all six reference oils. The seParation between oils dent Research Laboratory," Lubr. Enq.,36,4, pp 201-214 (1980).
was small. (1/) ASTM Sequence III-D surveillance panel reports.
DISCUSSION like to suggest that, when the authors run their four-ball
wear tests at different speeds, maybe the length of the test
SIDNEY SHEN (Member, ASLE)
should also be changed proportionally to provide a constant
Union Oil Co. of California number of total revolutions for every test. Like the results
Brea, California 92621
in Table 3, the tests at higher speed may have a larger final
The authors are to be commended for their attempt to wear scar, but, on a wear-per-revolution basis, these tests
derive a correlation between a bench wear test and the Se- may have a smaller specific wear level because of the in-
quence III-D engine test. The problem is very comPlicated crease in the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) mode.
but is of great practical importance. Very few published The authors rely heavily on the incipient seizure point to
data in this area exist and systematic approaches like the establish the correlation with III-D engine test. Incipient
one used in this study should be welcomed and encouraged. seizure occurs when the lubricant film can no longer sep-
The idea of using a step-loading test to determine loading arate the surfaces and should be a function of both the
capacity is interesting and should save a lot of time. I would viscosity of the lubricant film and the chemistry of the sys-
D!SCUSSION 140
oa
FRED G. ROUNDS (Fellow, ASLE)
120
General Motors Research Laboratories o 50 100 150 2()0 25o 300
Warren, Mlchigan 48090
AVERAGE CAM ANO LTFTER WEAR - m x iO-6
The developmenr of a simple bench test to predict engine Flg. B1-Corrolation betweon llFD Soquenco wear and 4-ball solzure load
performance has been the dream of nearly everyone who
has studied the performance of antiwear additives and many
have tried. I am no exceprion. Although limited correlarions over 400 percent increase in viscosity, a substantial fraction
have sometimes been achieved, these correlations generally of the zinc dithiophosphate anriwear additive originally
break down when the additive chemistry changes. Engine present in the oil would no longer be available to help con-
sequence tests have had the same problem with some oils trol wear (.B1). This oxidation factor is nor presenr in rhe
that pass the sequence rest failing in the field. One of the relatively short 4-ball wear resrs. Four-ball dara on oil 738,
reasons for the periodic updating o[ the sequence tests has a high wear reference oil that does nor fail the viscosity
been to modify the tesr so thar we can fail in the laboratory increase part of the test, would be most interesting.
those oils that engines in the field say should fail. Although the authors have shown a limited correlation,
The present paper by Gates and Hsu represents another data on many more oils will be needed to prove that a useful
attempt to find a correlation between a bench test and the correlation does exist.
engine sequence tests. For their correlation studies, they
selected three similar good and three similar bad ASTM REFERENCES
reference oils which, incidentally, were nor part of the CRC
(81) Willermet, P. A., Mahoney, L. R., and Haas, C. M., "The Effects of
REO series and thus should not be referred to as REO oils Antioxidant Reaction on the Wear Behavior of a Zinc Dialkvldithio-
in the paper. No correlation or perhaps a reverse correlation phosphate," AS LE Traru., 22, 5, pp 30 l-06 ( 1979).
was observed for constant load 4-ball wear test conditions
well within the antiwear regime whereas a correlation was
AUTHORS'CLOSURE
obtained using a step load seizure procedure. Engine valve
train components fail by gradual wear, nor by seizure. Since The authors wish to thank Sidney Shen and Fred Rounds
the antiwear additive concentration in most engine oils is for their thoughtful discussions. We agree with most of the
far above that needed to achieve a low wear scar diameter comments.
in 4-ball wear tests, have the authors considered a procedure The reference oils were obtained from the ASTM test
whereby the candidate engine oil is diluted with a base oil monitoring center with the provision that we would not
and the increase in wear scar diameter is followed as a analyze the oils. Since we do not know the compositions of
function of dilution? In diesel engine oil studies, the dilution the oils, we are unable to respond to Mr. Rounds' statement
approach has been helpful. that three similar good and three similar bad reference oils
The authors have listed a number of factors that must be were used.
watched if repeatable dara are to be obtained. I would like The six reference oils used were the only ones available
to add two more items. Passing the cleaning solvents through at the time the paper was written. Since then, two additional
silica gel to remove polar impurities prior to use is a musr. reference oils have become available and were tested using
Also, the ball lot and source can affect the wear values. our procedures. Results from these tests are presented, with
In Fig. Bl, 4-ball seizure loads obtained by the aurhors the previous data for comparison purposes, in Table Cl.
using the step-loading procedure have been plotted as a Reference oil 8lA, a low wear III-D oil, performed well in
function of average cam and lifter wear based on the most the four-ball tests and can be grouped with the other low
recent ASTM data (over 30 tests on all oils excepr 76A, and wear oils. Reference oil 73B, the high wear III-D reference
75B which were based on 19 and 20 tests, respecrively). oil referred to by Mr. Rounds, performed poorly and can
Although there is a trend toward higher engine wear for be grouped with the other high wear oils.
those oils having a lower seizure load, there is a lot of data The plot shown by Mr. Rounds in Fig. Bl is an attempt
scatter, especially at the high wear end. I would be happier to apply a linear fit to the correlation. Unfortunately, the
if some intermediate wear engine oils in the 100 to 200m plot contains a mixture of low wear III-D oils that completed
x 10-6 average cam and lifter wear range had been in- the engine sequence test (64 hours) and high wear oils that
cluded. Another problem is that the high wear oils selected ran less than the sixty-four hours required for the test. Since
were also all oils that failed the viscosity increase part of the test duration is not constant, a comparison of the data using
Sequence III-D test. As a result of oxidation causing the a linear approximation of the correlation is questionable.
The high wear III-D reference oils have average cam and wear classifications and a pass-fail criterion is appropriate
lifter wear values of 250-300 x 10-6 meters. If these oils for correlation purposes.
had continued to run to the 64-hour endpoint, wear would We will continue to test the correlations with new refer-
probably be higher but would certainly not be the same. ence oils and oils with substantial engine sequence testing
The oils, therefore, can only be separated into high and low as they become available.