Porous bearings

A. L. Braun*

Much equipment in everyday use, such as small domestic appliances and

audio equipment, has porous bearings to support a rotating shaft. The
bearings in this type of equipment can only be supplied with lubricant once,
during manufacture, so the use of porous bearings is an obvious solution.
The porous wall of these bearings functions as a reservoir from which the
bearing gap is filled with lubricant. With these bearings, problems are regularly
encountered, such as noise, loss of lubricant, premature failure, irregular
friction and inaccurate shaft position. In a practical investigation, attempts
were made to obtain a better understanding of the causes of these problems
and, where possible, to lay down guidelines for restricting or avoiding them.
The investigation was concerned exclusively with cylindrical porous bearings,
between 2.5 and 5 mm diameter, impregnated with oil having a relatively
low viscosity and operating in the mixed lubrication regime

Keywords. lubrication, porous bearings, lubricant loss

Ari=cJ wharf= l o w I~r~_~ur~ m o v

If a load is applied to a rotating shaft in a solid journal
bearing, a pressure caused by the wedge effect will be gener-
ated in the lubricant in the bearing gap. This pressure is
such that the shaft and the bearing bush are completely
separated from each other by the lubricant film, ie hydro-
dynamic lubrication. Besides the load, the following para-
meters entirely determine the pressure generated in the
bearing:
b Bearing width
hmin Minimum lubricant film thickness in the bearing
R Shaft radius
AR Shaft radial clearance in the bearing
r/ Dynamic viscosity of the lubricant
6o Relative angular speed of the shaft with respect to
the bearing
The advantages of this type of bearing are the low wear of
shaft and bearing bush and the low bearing friction. Also,
the friction remains absolutely constant during a revolution
so that, theoretically, the behaviour of this type of bearing
can be predicted precisely.
A disadvantage is that lubricant has to be pumped
constantly into the bearing gap. This makes the solid
journal bearing less suitable for use in consumer products.
For this very reason, the porous journal bearing is often F
found in consumer articles. 10 to 35% of the volume of Fig I Oil circulation through a porous bearing in which all
porous bearings consists of interconnected pores which are the pores and the bearing gap are completely filled with oil
impregnated once with lubricant, usually an oil with a low
viscosity. The porous bearing material functions as a by the size of the bearing gap, the diameter of the pores
reservoir from which the bearing gap is filled with lubricant and also, as we found, by the length of time that the shaft
during operation and in which the lubricant is stored during remains stationary. When the shaft begins to rotate, a
standstill. This method should ensure that a porous bearing pressure will be generated in the oil film, as is the case with
continues to function well throughout its life, usually the solid journal bearing (Fig 1). This pressure build-up
without any further maintenance. causes oil in the loaded part of the bearing to disappear into
When the shaft in the porous bearing is stationary, capillary the pores. A deficiency ofoit in the bearing gap is produced.
action causes some of the oil to enter the bearing gap. The According to current theory, this will bring about a lower
amount of oil which enters the bearing gap is determined pressure in the unloaded part, so that oil is sucked into the
bearing gap. It is reasonable to assume, though, that the
*NF Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken, Videq Lab, Building SFJ 7,
capillary action of the bearing gap also contributes to this
5600 MD Eindhoven, The Netherlands oil transport.

0301--679X/82/050235-08 $03.00 © 1982 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd 235

 B r a u n - P o r o u s bearings
A constant flow of oil from the loaded part to the unloaded
part via the porous bearing therefore exists x . It should be
noted, however, that this only applies when the bearing
and the bearing gap are completely filled with oil.
Besides the parameters which determine the pressure build-
up in a solid journal bearing, the following may be added for
a porous bearing:
H Thickness of the bearing wall
q~ Permeability of the bearing. This material property
determines the flow resistance to which the oil is
subjected in the porous bearing wall
Bearing materials with the same porosity may have an
entirely different permeability. It has also been found that
the spread in the permeability of a number of bearings of
the same type is sometimes quite large 2 . These material
properties will have an effect, albeit difficult to determine,
on the pressure generated.
The literature provides various approximate calculations of
the hydrodynamic load-carrying capacity of porous
bearings, usually using shafts and porous bearings immersed
in an oil bath. As far as normal porous bearing practice is
concerned, neither these calculations nor the tests done to
check them are valid.
A look into the bearing gap
An experiment was carried out using a set-up which allows
the bearing gap of a porous bearing to be viewed via a
hollow glass shaft. In the set-up, a mirror-smooth polished
HoLlow glass shaft t Porous bearing
//// //// x/x/k////////.~/
- - I 4
\\\
Y///f//Y//////////..4////
1
Fig 2 A hollow glass shaft in a porous bearing. The bearing
gap can be looked into through a mirror
I-
Li ......
0° 270 °
Direction of rotation of the shaft
Fig 3 A view o f the middle o f the bearing gap o f a porous bronze bearing. ~ = 8 m m , n = 500 r/min. Load o f 5 N action on
the 180 ° point. The dark 'fingers' in the bearing gap are air inclusions. Oil viscosity = O.043 N s m-2 at 20 °C and
O.015 N s m-2 at 70 °C
236
hollow glass shaft rotates in a self-adjusting porous bronze
bearing: R = 4 m m ; A R = 13/am;speed = 500 r/min; oil
viscosity: 0.043 N s m -2 at 20 °C and 0.015 N s m -2 at
70 °C; and radial load: 5 N. With the aid of a small mirror
in the hollow glass shaft and a microscope with a large
focal length, every point in the bearing gap can be observed
(Fig 2).
The porous bearing was impregnated with oil just before
the start of the test. After starting the glass shaft in the
statically loaded porous bearing, it was observed that the
oil became darker due to the bronze particles which were
worn off from the bearing bush and scratches developed in
the loaded part of the bearing. Shortly after the shaft
started up, small air-bubbles appeared in the unloaded part
of the bearing gap at the pores which had the largest cross-
section. These air-bubbles increased in size and collected
to form elongated air fingers. The porous bearing wall was
then clearly no longer completely filled with oil: in some
of the pores the oil had been replaced by air. Since the
pores with the largest cross-section exert the smallest cap-
illary force on the oil, the oil in these pores will be sucked
out the easiest into the bearing gap. The air in the bearing
wall can then penetrate into the bearing gap via these larger
pores.
Fig 3 shows the bearing gap photographed in the test set-up,
several hours after the start of the experiment. The bearing
gap in the middle of the bearing was photographed in ten
positions of a complete circle, by rotating the mirror
through 36 ° each time. By joining the photos together we
obtained a picture of the bearing gap in the middle of the
bearing. It can be seen that the air which was sucked into
the bearing has collected to form elongated air fingers. The
oil in the region of the air fingers will not contribute to the
load-carrying capacity of tile porous bearing. The loaded
part of the bearing, in which there are no inclusions of air
in the oil, so that here the oil can contribute to the load-
carrying capacity, occupies only one-seventh of the total
circumference of the porous bearing in Fig 3. (In a solid
bearing, the pressure-generating part of the oil film occupies
virtually half of the bearing circumference.)
Shaft position in the porous bearing
One of the experiments done to see how porous bearings
work under practical circumstances was an investigation
into the shaft position in porous bearings operating in
various types of small electric motors. A test set-up was
used which displayed on an oscilloscope screen the
-tr d = 25.1 _1
•
IdO ° 90 ° 0o
T R I B O L O G Y i n t e r n a t i o n a l O c t o b e r 1982
 B r a u n - Porous bearings

magnitude and direction of displacement of the centre of

the shaft in its bearing. This was done using two transducers
which took contactless measurements of the displacement
of the shaft, using reflected light. The transducers were
situated immediately next to the porous bearing, on that
side of the electric motor from which the shaft protrudes.
The centre lines of both transducers and the axis of the
shaft intersected each other at right angles. If the stationary
shaft is now moved carefully along the bearing wall by
hand, the centre of the shaft will describe the path of maxi-
mum bearing clearance (maximum clearance circle). In
each of the photos which were made of the shaft motion,
the maximum clearance circle is indicated by a white
dashed line. In the motors tested, the clearance circle was
often elliptic. This was caused by alignment errors in the
two bearings. a
The investigation into tile shaft motion in the porous
bearings of two types of small electric motors will now
be discussed.

Small dc motor
This motor, an ironless rotor type, was equipped with
porous cylindrical iron bearings press-fitted in the motor
housing with shaft diameter 3 mm and bearing porosity
25%. The bearings were impregnated with oil having a vis-
cosity of 0.043 N s m -2 at 20 °C and 0.015 N s m -2 at 70 °C.
The tests were carried out with the shaft of the motor
in the horizontal position. The bearing was lightly loaded
by the weight of the rotor.
When no external load was acting on the motor, it was
found that the behaviour of the shaft in the porous bearings
was dependent upon the time which had elapsed between
the manufacture of the motor and the moment of testing. b
Tests carried out soon after manufacture consistently
showed the following picture for the various motors.
Immediately after the motor was switched on, a half-6o
whirl occurred for a short time (Fig 4(a)). This indication
of instability often occurs with unloaded or lightly loaded
hydrodynamic journal bearings. With some motors, the
shaft motion remained unstable, with other motors the
shaft then rotated centrally in the bearing for some time
(Fig 4(b)). In all motors, the shaft finally dropped through
the oil film over a period of approximately 15 min to 1 h
(Fig 4(c)).
The tests on these motors were repeated four months after
the first tests. There was no longer any lubricating film
generation between shaft and bearing. After the motor
was started up, the shaft continued to rotate at the spot
which it had occupied when stationary. This is comparable
with Fig 4(c). C 2/ m
The same tests were carried out on motors which had
undergone a life test of 4000 h (static load: 5 N, speed: Fig 4 dc motor soon after manufacture, n = 2000 r/min
1500 r/rain, cycle: 3 h on, 1 h off). After switch-on, no (anticlockwise). Lightly loaded shaft. (a) Immediately after
oil film was measured between shaft and bearing in any of start-up of the motor (half-~o whirl), (b) after about I min
these unloaded motors. In some motors, the shaft made a and (c) after about 15 min
rolling motion along the porous bearing wall. This was
housing with the bearings in Fig 5(a) is rotated clockwise
accompanied by a clearly perceptible rattling sound
through 90 °. The shaft then lies in a 'hole in the clearance
(Fig 5(a)).
circle' owing to the force of gravity. The bearing wall is now
This rolling motion was produced by the rotating shaft clearly too steep for the rolling motion to take place, and
creeping up against the bearing wall as a result of the hence the rattling sound. (The 'hole in the clearance circle'
friction between shaft and bearing wall, and then falling is meant figuratively. As previously noted, the shape of the
back down. Fig 5(b) shows what happens when the motor clearance circle is determined by the alignment of the
bearings.)

TRIBOLOGY international October 1982 237

Braun - Porous bearings
The rolling motion can be suppressed by putting some oil
into the bearing gap so that the friction between shaft and
bearing wall is reduced.
An experiment was done in which the two bearing gaps of
one of the motors were temporarily supplied again with
oil. When this motor was started up the shaft in the bearing
was lifted about 14 #m and it then rotated for some time
on an oil film of approximately 5/am (see Fig 6(a)). When
the motor was stopped, the shaft dropped through the oil
film until it came into contact with the bearing wall.
A week later, this test was repeated on the same motor
(Fig 6 (b)). When the motor was started this time, the shaft
was only lifted 11 ~m, and the oil film disappeared within
one minute. This phenomenon was repeated for each
start-stop cycle of one minute rotating and one minute
stationary.
The fact that the behaviour of the shaft in the porous
bearing changes as a function of time is caused by the
disappearance of lubricant from the bearing. When the shaft
rotates, oil is pressed into the pores of the loaded part of
the bearing. When the bearing is no longer completely filled
with oil, the bearing gap is no longer adequately supplied
with oil from the unloaded part of the bearing. This makes
the minimum film thickness, hmin, smaller. While the
a occurs between shaft and bearing.
b 2
Fig 5 dc motor after 4000 h life test. n = 2000 r/min
(clockwise). Lightly loaded shaft. (a) Rolling motion o f
shaft along the bearing wall showing noise and (b) motor
housing rotated clockwise through 90 ° . No rolling motion.
No noise
238
,,';II . . . . . ,--n,
a 15 30 45 60 75
Time,rain
_ _
b 5 Io 15
Time,min
~5
C 5 I0 15
Time, min
Fig 6 Minimum oil film thickness as a function o f time in
a porous iron bearing (¢ = 3 mm). (a) The shaft is lightly
loaded, n = 2000 r/min. The bearing gap was supplied with
oil just before the test. (b) Under the same conditions as in
(a), but one week later. (c) Under the same conditions as in
(a), but with a radial load o f 5 N
shaft is stationary, capillary forces cause oil to leave the
pores and enter the bearing gap. When the motor is started
up an oil film is again generated in the bearing, but then the
oil again disappears into the pores of the loaded part of the
bearing, and so on. In the course of time, so mu,ch oil
disappears from the bearings that when the shaft is station-
ary, far less oil creeps into the bearing gap. When the
motor is switched on, an oil film is then generated between
shaft and bearing for only a short time, or possibly not at
all.
With a lightly loaded shaft, the appearance or otherwise of
hydrodynamic lubrication was found to depend on the
quantity of oil still remaining in the bearing and the
bearing gap. In the case of a radial load on the bearings of
more than 0.5 N, no oil film was measured in any of these
motors which was greater than the measuring accuracy of
the transducers (film thickness ~< 1 #m) (Fig 6(c)). It is
therefore reasonable to assume that mixed lubrication
Afterwards, lubricants felts were placed with the bearings
of this type of motor. These felts, impregnated with oil,
can release oil to the bearing and reabsorb it. In this way,
the overall lubricant supply of the bearing is expanded. It
was found that, with unloaded shaft only, lubricating film
generation between shaft and bearing ocurred for far
longer. Half-~o whirl did usually develop, however.
ac series m o t o r
This motor is equipped with self-adjusting porous bronze
bearings with a porosity of 20%, diameter 4 mm and rated
frequency of rotation 12 000 r/rain. Just before the tests
were carried out, the bearings were impregnated with oil
having a viscosity of 0.033 N s m - 2 and 20 °C and
0.006 I~ s m -2 at 70 °C. The normal external load on this
motor is a small torque. The radial reaction forces acting on
the bearings as a result of this external torque are, however,
small compared to the out of balance and magnetic forces
which are exerted upon the bearings by the rotor of the
"~,otor itself.
Fig 7(a) shows the position of the shaft in the bearing when
only the external torque is being applied; hydrodynamic
lubrication is in effect.
TR I B O L O G Y i n t e r n a t i o n a l O c t o b e r 1982

When the magnetic and out of balance forces are also acting
upon the bearings, there is certainly no question of hydro-
dynamic lubrication (see Fig 7 (b)). The shaft is banging
around the bearing.
The relationship between the radial load and the relative
eccentricity e of the shaft in the bearing was determined for
this bearing. This was done by applying a precisely known
out of balance to the shaft. The load is then dependent on
the frequency of rotation.
Fig 8 illustrates well the limited load-carrying capacity of
this porous bearing. Up to a radial load of 0.6 N, hydro-
dynamic lubrication occurs. If the load is increased, the oil
film disappears and the shaft begins to describe a path along
the bearing wall (e ~ 1). If the load on the shaft is then
decreased by reducing the frequency of rotation, then e
remains -~ 1 until 0.4 N. Once the load drops below 0.4 N,
e becomes smaller than 1. Now, however, the relative eccen-
tricity is greater than it was just after the motor was
started. This can be explained as follows.
a Running-in
b at 70 °C. Before the test was started, a film barrier was
.~- --2_2 F m
Fig 7 Bearing loaded by (a) a small torque and (b) by
magnetic and out o f balance forces caused by the rotor.
ac series motor, n = 12 000 r/rain
TRIBOLOGY i n t e r n a t i o n a l O c t o b e r 1982
B r a u n - Porous bearings
/ I
/ I
/ I
/ I
/ I
/ I
I
!
/
/
!
!
/
/
8 0.5
I
1
Q4 0.8 1.2
, I I ~ I
Rodi~ol Iood, N
I t f I I
0 3000 5000 7000 9000
Speed, r/min
Fig 8 Relationship between relative eccentricity and radial
load o f the shaft in the porous bronze bearing o f the 220 V
ac motor (¢ = 4 mm). The bearing was #npregnated shortly
before the test
When the load is increased, thereby also increasing the pres-
sure in the lubricating film, some of the lubricant will dis-
appear from the bearing gap into the pores of the bearing.
This oil will only return into the gap when the shaft comes
to a standstill; this happens because the oil creeps into the
capillary formed between shaft and bearing. The bearings
of this type of motor, too, will work in the mixed lubrica-
tion regime.
behaviour of porous bearings
The test method which was used to determine the position
of the shaft in the porous bearing is not accurate enough to
measure oil films much smaller than 1 ~m. This means
that it is not known whether shaft and bearing are still
separated by an oil film which is greater than the sum of
the roughness peaks of shaft and bearing, or whether the
roughness peaks of shaft and bearing are touching each
other and so-called mixed lubrication is occurring. To get
a better impression of this, the change in the so-called
Stribeck curve as a function of time in a number of life
tests was plotted.
In the test set-up, a number of shafts was rotating in a
(self-adjusting) porous bearing. Half of the shafts rotated
continuously, the other half in a start-stop cycle of 25 min
rotating and 5 min stationary. The speed was 2400 r/min
and the radial load 3.5 N. The bearings used in the life tests
were cylindrical porous bronze with a porosity of 19%
and porous iron with a porosity of 26% with R = 1.5 mm,
AR = 9/lm, b = 5.5 mm and H = 2 mm. The oil used had
a viscosity of 0.043 N s m -2 at 20 °C and 0.015 N s m -2
applied to the positions on the shaft next to the bearing
being tested, in order to prevent oil from creeping out of
the bearing gap during the test. The Stribeck curve was
determined at regular invervals by measuring the friction
torque as a function of the frequency of rotation.
239
Braun - Porous bearings

Fig 9 shows the change in the Stribeck curve when a

statically loaded shaft rotates continuously in a porous
bronze bearing. For the first 960 h of the life test, the bear-
ing operated in the mixed lubrication regime. This can be
seen from the fact that the coefficient of friction during
this period constantly decreased and the frequency of
O.15 -
rotation at which minimum friction occurred became lower
and lower. A kind of running-in process was thus taking
place. After 960 h, this process came to an end and a
certain form of hydrodynamic lubrication developed
between shaft and bearing. This running-in process is
greatly accelerated when the shaft rotates in a start-stop "5

cycle. The Stribeck curve after a 24 h life test is also shown QI0 - ~ 0 h
in Fig 9. After 24 h of start-stop, this bearing had already
run in and during the rest of the test the Stribeck curve o
hardly changed.
The same type of life tests were carried out with porous
iron bearings (Fig 10). The running-in process was found to
progress somewhat slower and to continue much longer 005 -
...--.-'74 h
than with the porous bronze bearing. A start-stop test had
an accelerating effect upon running-in with the porous iron After 74 h start/stop
bearing too, though to a lesser extent than with the bronze ._.__.-
.----- 940 h
bearing. The porous iron has a greater resistance to wear
than the porous bronze.
Here follows a hypothesis concerning the operation of a
statically loaded porous bearing (Fig 11). The roughness 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
peaks in the loaded part of the porous bearing will be worn Speed, r/min

away by the rotating shaft, so that a certain conformity Fig 10 Change in the Stribeck curve e r a porous iron bearing
will gradually develop between shaft and bearing bush. (¢ = 3 m m ) during a life test. Bearing load = 3.5 N;
Furthermore, some pores in the loaded part will be closed. n = 2400 r/min; oil viscosity = O.043 N s m-2 at 20 °C and
The result of both these changes in the bearing is that the O. 015 N s rn-2 at 70 °C
part played by fixed friction becomes increasingly small
and the part played by viscous friction increasingly large.
020 The coefficient of friction falls. This has a favourable effect
upon the development of hydrodynamic lubrication 3 .
However, we are dealing here with extremely thin oil
films. There is no question of full film lubrication. This can
be seen, for example, from the fact that in the event of a
small increase in the load or a change in the load direction,
015 the friction increases sharply and the running-in process
0 h
starts again.
Only a small quantity of oil is needed in the bearing gap to
maintain the extremely thin oil film which develops
between a and b (Fig 11). The oil which leaves the worn
~6
bearing gap at b adheres to the shaft and goes back into this
0.10 24 h bearing gap at a.
o~ It must be emphasised that the above observation about the
running-in of porous bearings only applies when the shaft is
statically loaded. If the shaft is cyclically loaded, which in
practice will often be the case, then the conformity
bet.ween shaft and bearing will not be achieved because of
0.05 the alternating shaft positions. Mixed lubrication will then
960 h occur permanently, resulting in higher friction and wear.
2500 h The running-in effect is also the reason why statically
loaded porous bearings can function well for a very long
After 2'# h stort/stop time in life tests, without a great deal of wear occurring.
Caution should be exercised, however, before using such
[ I I I I
life test results for cyclically loaded bearings.
500 IOOO 15OO 2000 2500
Speed, r/rain

Fig 9 Change in the Stribeck curve e r a porous bronze Oil loss from the porous bearings
bearing (4~ = 3 m m ) during a life test. Bearing load = 3. 5 N; Some oil will leak from a newly impregnated porous
n = 2400 r/min; oil viscosity = O.043 N s rn-2 at 20 °C and bearing soon after the shaft has been started 4 . Because of
0.015 N s m -2 at 70 °C the pressure build-up in the bearing, the oil will be pressed

240 TR IBOLOGY international October 1982

 B r a u n - Porous bearings

out of the bearing gap in an axial direction and be spun off

by the shaft.
Only when the bearing has lost a portion of its oil, and the
pores are therefore no longer completely filled with oil,
will the capillary action of the pores become greater, so
that the porous bearing becomes capable of sucking oil
into its pores.
There are two more mechanisms which cause lubrication
loss from the porous bearing: evaporation and creep. These
are all the more disastrous since they also occur with a
stationary shaft.

Creep of oil
The constant creep of oil out of the bearing gap over the
shaft was ascertained during the tests carried out on the
shaft position in the porous bearing. The transducers which
measure the displacement of the shaft by means of
reflection consistently detected an extremely thin oil film
on the shaft. Before each test, the shaft was cleaned in the
vicinity of the transducers. Soon after the test, a thin oil
film was again detected on the shaft.
An investigation into the creep of oil over a steel surface
by means of ellipsometry s was carried out. It was found
that the creep of the oil over a steel surface takes place in
three phases. First, a layer about 2 nm thick is formed
fairly quickly, after which a layer about 20 nm thick is
formed more slowly. Finally, a layer of 0.1-0.3/am
'floods' the first two thin layers. Oils with a low viscosity
(widely used in porous bearings) creep faster than oils with
a high viscosity. The creeping of oil occurs more slowly
over a smooth surface, especially when the machining
marks are perpendicular to the direction of creep.
Temperature gradients in the oil also affect the creep 6 . This
is caused by the variation in the surface tension of the oil
as a function of temperature. It also appears that oils in
which the distribution of the molecular weights of the
various components lies within close limits display the least
creep 7
Evaporation of oil
Because oil from the bearing creeps over the shaft and bear-
ing holders, the evaporating surface of the lubricant is
greatly increased. This means that evaporation of the oil,
together with the creep, can adversely affect the oil loss
from the bearing.
This is shown by the following practical example. The
porous bearings of a small dc motor were impregnated with
oil A. After a while a squeaking noise occurred regularly.
The evaporation rate of the oil used was then investigated by
the test method ASTM D 972. The measurements were made
at an oil temperature of 75 °C. The evaporation rate of oil
A was compared to that of two other oils, B and C, which
can also be used for these bearings, and was found to be at
least ten times as great as that of oils B and C. In a life test
with the same dc motors, in which their bearings were
impregnated with oil B, the 'squeak' symptoms no longer
occurred.
Conclusions
When a shaft rotates in a porous bearing, oil disappears
from the bearing gap into the pores of the loaded part of
the bearing. The bearing gap is refilled with oil from the
Fig 11 Statically loaded porous bearing. After running-in,
good conformity exists between shaft and bearing, resulting
in a form of hydrodynamic lubrication. The oil film is,
however, extremely thin (< 1 pro) and can easily be
disturbed
unloaded part of the bearing, partly as a result of the
capillary action of the bearing gap itself.
It was found that after only a short time, some of the oil
disappeared from the porous bearings. As a consequence,
the bearing gap was no longer completely filled with oil.
Hydrodynamic lubrication occurred in the porous bearings
only when very small radial loads were applied. The bearing
and bearing gap must however be completely filled with oil.
Usually this is only so with newly impregnated bearings.
Under the normal radial load the porous bearing operates
continuously in the mixed lubrication regime. It is only
when a porous bearing is statically loaded that a sort of
hydrodynamic lubrication can develop, following a running-
in process. This involves a very thin oil film (< 1/am),
which can easily be disturbed by a small change in the
magnitude or direction of the load.
Practice has shown that porous bearings operating in the
mixed lubrication regime can go on functioning for a long
time. A prerequisite, however, is that a quantity of
lubricant must be present in the bearing. Steps should
therefore be taken to limit the effect of lubricant loss.
Two mechanisms which can cause lubricant loss, with a
rotating and with a stationary shaft, are creep and evapora-
tion of oil. This lubricant loss depends on the type of oil
used, oil viscosity, shaft roughness and temperature
gradients.
If, however, a bearing with a high degree of reliability is
required, or stringent requirements are placed upon a
precise motion of the shaft in the bearing, requirements
which can reasonably be made of a genuine hydro-

TRIBOLOGY international October 1982 241

Braun - Porous bearings

dynamically lubricated bearing, then porous bearings are
not the most suitable type.
Acknowledgement
Thanks are due to Drs L. Noordermeer for his valuable
advice in the course of the experiments.
References
1. Morgan V.T. and Cameron A. Mechanism of Lubrication in Porous
Metal Bearing. Proc. Conf. on Lubrication and Wear. London,
1957, 151-157
2. Braun A.L. Onderzoek aan Poreuze Lagers.De Constructeur,
1979, 7, 20-26
3. BegelingerA. and de Gee A.WJ. The Effect of Wear on the
Performance of Statically Loaded Journal Bearings. Proc.
JSLE-ASLE International Lubrication Conf. Tokyo, 1975,
paper 1 B-1
4. Morgan V.T. Porous Metal Bearings. Tribology, May 1969,
2:2), 107 115
5. Meyer F. and LoyenCJ. The Creep of Oil on Steel Followed
by Ellipsometry. Wear, 1975, 33(2), 317-323
6. Fote A.A., Dormant L.M. and Feuerstein S. Migration of
Hydrocarbon Oil on Metal Substtates Under the Influence of
Temperature Gradients. Lubrication Engineering, October
1976, 32(10), 542-545
7. Hirano F., Matsui S. and Sakal T. Effect of Composition of
Mineral Oil on Performance of Mechanical Seal. Paper F1 of
the 7th International Conference on Fluid Sealing,
Nottingham, England, 1975

Synthetic Oils and Lubricant Additives- Advances Since 1979

Edited b y M.J. Satriana
This book is number 207 in the series
of Chemical Technology Reviews pub-
lished by Noyes Data Corporation.
The aim of the book is to abstract
Published, 1982, by the Noyes Data Corp-
oration, Mill Road, Grand Avenue, Park
Ridge, NJ 07656, USA
Microscopic Aspects of Adhesion and Lubrication
Edited by J.M. Georges
This is the published account of a
conference organised by the Soci6t6
de Chimie physique held in Paris in
September 1981. A fairly full confer-
ence report appeared in the February
1982 issue of this journal.
This volume contains some 55 papers,
mainly in English, with some brief
discussions, the latter consisting mainly
of short direct questions and replies.
The range of topics is fairly wide.
There are a few papers of direct inter-
est to practical engineers, but the main
body of the volume is devoted to a dis-
cussion of the basic physics and chem-
istry of interacting surfaces. The book
is divided into six sections whose titles
will give some indication of the con-
tent: Interfacial Forces and Structures;
Physico-chemical Aspects of Adhesion;
Mechanical and Chemomechanical
Aspects of Adhesion; Electronic
Published, 1982, by Elsevier Scientific
Publishing Company at D.fl. 325. O0
(US $151.00). ISBN 0 444 42071 1
technical information from the US
patent literature, eliminating 'legal
jargon and juristic phraseology'. The
information presented in the book pre-
sents a commercially oriented review
of recent developments in the tech-
nology as viewed through the patent
literature.
Emission in Adhesion and Friction;
Transfer Layers and Dry Friction and
Lubrication
The reviewer would suggest that the
typical reader of Tribology Inter-
national would find greatest interest in
the wear of oxide and other films
formed by chemical reaction and in
the fairly extensive discussion of a
range of ideas about the physics and
chemistry of boundary lubrication;
there is also some interesting updating
of evidence on the adhesion contribu-
tion to rolling friction as proposed by
the Cambridge school of K.L. Johnson
and co-workers and the alternative
theories of Derjaguin and co-workers.
At the price indicated, this book is
likely to find its place on the shelves
of libraries mainly as a useful reference
to some current views on the basic
physics and chemistry of the subject.
J.F. Archard
3 The Driftway,
Sheringham ,
Norfolk, UK, NR26 8RW
Like other books in the series, this
volume makes an excellentreference
book for technologists in the field.
Inevitably, the material included does
not cover the whole field since the
volume of patents in this area is
enormous. However, the selection
included gives a very good guide to
development lines during the period
January 1980-June 1981.
The division of the patents by sub-
ject is, on the whole, logical and the
provision of a combined table of
contents and subject index greatly
simplifies the problem of finding
patents concerning a specific topic.
One minor criticism is that the sub-
ject of friction modifiers does not
merit a separate reference in the
subject index. Friction modifiers are
included in the book, but are hidden
under the more general heading of
extreme pressure agents. Synthetic oils
are also not given a separate section in
the index and are scattered in various
sections such as lubricant composi-
tions, and speciality lubricants. To
some extent, the title of the book is
misleading in that synthetic oils form
only a minor part of the contents, the
bulk of which are concerned with
additive technology.
This book is well produced to the
normal standard we expect from this
series and will take its place as a stan-
dard reference book for lubricant
formulators, despite the relatively high
price of $48.
G.R. Dobson
BP Research Centre,
Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames,
Middlesex, UK, TW16 7LN

242 TR I B O L O G Y international October 1982