ME F315: Advanced Manufacturing Processes

Determination of Extreme Pressure, Wear

Preventive characteristics of lubricants
using Four Ball Tester
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
 Tribology

• The word tribology was first reported in a landmark report by Jost (1966)
meaning as “the science of rubbing ”.

• It confines the study of:

a. Friction

b. Wear

c. Lubrication

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Introduction

• Lubrication, a constituent of tribology, is one of the powerful means of reducing

frictional resistance of surface having relative motion under load.

• It has been seen that surfaces of the bodies are never been perfectly smooth. It is due
to these corrugations that friction arises.

• For conventional machine elements various types of lubricants are available and
user has to select any one of them. In case lubricant does not work effectively, the
failures may increase. It is essential to check the physical-chemical properties of the
oils while selecting.

• The first laboratory test device for determining lubricant quality was known as four
ball tester.

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 Four Ball Tester

• The four-ball test is a fast, repeatable and an accurate way to test lubricants for their wear
preventive, extreme pressure and frictional properties.
Applications
• Determine extreme pressure (EP), wear preventive (WP), frictional
and fatigue properties of oils and greases.
• Test wear preventive properties of nanoparticles derived from
carbon metal oxide, sulphides and nanocomposites.

• Compare and estimate the deterioration of lubricant quality by

comparing fresh and used oil.
• Test polymeric viscosity modifiers to achieve better shear stability
and minimize viscosity loss.
• Lubrication efficacy of biodegradable / vegetable oils compared to
mineral based oils.

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 Four Ball Tester - Specifications

• Aim: To characterize lubricants properties, such as wear prevention (WP), extreme pressure (EP)
and frictional behavior.

• Apparatus: DUCOM Four Ball Tester Machine, Sample Oil MILCY 40, Test Balls (Chromium
Steel Balls 12.7mm diameter)

• Test Parameters:

Constant Load: 15kg

Test Duration: 60 minutes

Oil Temperature: 75○ C

Speed: 1200 RPM

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 Four Ball Tester – Configuration

• The Four Ball tester consists of four balls in the configuration of an equilateral tetrahedron.
The upper ball rotates and is in contact against the lower three balls, which are held in a fixed
position.

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Four Ball Extreme Pressure Test

• When the extreme pressure properties of a lubricant are tested, the ability of a lubricant to
function under extreme pressure conditions is determined.

• The test starts at ‘low’ loads – loads at which the lubricant functions well, a proper lubricant
film is developed and seizure is not detected.

• The load is gradually increased according to the test standard until the lubrication fails,
meaning that the lubricant film can no longer separate the surfaces and there is surface to
surface contact.

• As a last step, the load is increased until catastrophic failure occurs. This final failure is termed
‘welding’ and is characterized by increased noise level, sharp changes of the friction signal, etc.

• After the test, critical load (weld load) and pass by loads are obtained.

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Four Ball Wear Test

• The test for wear preventive properties is carried out by applying constant load and
testing the wear preventive properties of the lubricating oil for the test duration of 60
minutes.

• During the test the upper ball is rotated against the rest of the balls that are fixed.

• After the test duration, balls are discarded from the setup and the scar diameter is
measured by using the optical microscope and the average scar diameter is calculated.

• Based on the scar diameter, wear properties are checked.

• Smaller the scare diameter, better are wear preventive properties of the lubricant.

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Lets watch the Experimentation on Four Ball Tester……

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