Method of Improving the Performance of Multi-Dise Clutches by Reducing Spline Friction By Eugene F. Finkin, Ph.D. this onginal contributio expensive application of a s the author shows that, by the simple and in fe solid lubricant to the rubbing surfaces of splines, the resulting reduction in spline friction leads to marked improve ments in the performance of all types of wet lutches and brakes. These improvements or dty-tunning multi-dise nclude @ substantially higher torque and power capacity for units with a given number of discs, as com par aventional units without solid-lubric formity of heat generation and disc te As has recently been shown by the author’, spline friction has a significant effect on the performance of multi-disc clutches and brakes, inasmuch as it severely decreases their torque- and power-trans- mission capabilities. Thus, the applied load on the individual discs rapidly diminishes through the pack and, owing to spline friction, the more remote is the position of a disc in the array from the external load, the lower will be the normal load acting upon it As a result, the transmission of torque, as well as the generation of heat, is concentrated at the end of the pack receiving the external load on of solid lubricant (epeckled areas) tothe the eplines of « clutch or brake disc This problem can, however, be solved by a tech- nique? which reduces spline friction by means of suitable solid lubricating materials applied to the sides or rubbing surfaces of the splines of the discs, as exemplified in Fig. 1, or to those of the splines of the shafts and housing.” These materials can be in the form of bonded films of solid lubricants, metal plat- ings, flame-sprayed coatings, inserts, bearing com- positions, etc., and their application can be effected at a low cost. The presence of the solid lubricant effectively reduces spline friction and hence leads to a marked improvement in the performance of all types of multi-dise clutch and brake systems, irre spective of whether they are designed for wet or dry operation. In this way, the capabilities of existing units canbe upgraded or, as an alternative, the number of discs needed for a given torque will be much lower than that required for a conventional unit of equivalent rating. Furthermore, because this technique decreases spline friction, but does not affect the friction between the faces of the discs there is not only a distribution of torque generation through the pack of discs, but also of temperature, thereby permitting a much higher energy dissipation before thermal failure of the pack occurs. The following analysis presents some quanti tative aspects of reducing spline friction and serves to illustrate the significant improvements that can be achieved in transmitted torque and power and in dise-surface temperature ore unifor Transmitted Torque and Power It isa common belief that, to calculate the torque transmitted by a multi-dise clutch all that is required is to determine the torque on a single disc and multi: ply it by the number of discs. However, this belief is entirely erroneous because, as a consequence of spline friction, the normal load on the last disc may be much lower than the externally applied normal load, and the torque and power transmission of the last disc in the pack may be much lower than that of the first disc ‘A multiple-disc array generally comprises an alternating sequence of rotor and stator discs, the first and last of which are stator discs, so that, as shown in Fig. 2, if N is the total number of disc interfaces, the total number of rotor discs will be 4(N—1)." With such an array, the true expression of the total transmitted torque T can be derived! from the relationship ENGINEERS’ DIGEST(190-9 — 9) r= XLS “OF wd mode. where Also, ‘external normal load, 2h(RP cos By outside radius of the rotor- and stator-dise contact area, R= inside radius of the rotor- and stator-dise contact area, Ra~ mean radius of the rotor-disc spline contact, Ro= mean radius of the stator-dise spline contact, fi = coefficient of friction between the rotor and stator discs, fe ~ coefficient of friction between the rotor disc and spline, and fr = coefficient of friction between the stator disc and spline. Te RARER ‘mean angle between the normal force on a spline of the rotor disc and the tangent to the circumference, and 6) = mean angle between the normal force on a tooth of the stator disc and the tangent to the circumference. To illustrate the benefits that can be derived in Practice from a reduction in spline friction, two representative types of multi-disc clutch, one wet- running and the other dry-running, are considered in the following examples, in cach case with and without the application of a solid lubricant to the splines. Example 1 Assume that an automatic multi-dise clutch of the wet-running type, as used in heavy machinery, has five rotor discs and six stator discs (i.e, N= 11) and that the variables in eq. (1) have the following values Ro Thin. Rs = 0 = 0 fi = O15, and fa = fo ~ 030, this latter value being for splines without the application of solid lubricant. In connection with these coefficients of friction, it should be noted that the assumed value of the coefficient of friction fi between the rotor and stator discs is often far closer than manufacturers realize to the value that actually exists, as failure to con- sider spline friction in laboratory tests can result in values of fi about 30% below the true values. Also, the assumed value of 0:30 for the coefficient of friction f between the rotor disc and spline and for the coefficient of friction fs between the stator disc and spline is reasonable for steel on steel in the types of non-additive oils often utilized. From the geometric values of this clutch and the values of fi, fe, and fa, the value of y2 will be found to be 0.0593, while that of ya will be 0.0372. If these values are substituted in that part of the equation containing the summations, the summation ¥ for successive n-values of 1, 2, 3, etc. for this clutch, Shim., Re — Sin., Rs ~ Sin, MARCH. 1968 Volume 29, No. 3 assuming that solid lubricant is not applied to the splines, will be £ = 0-963 + 0-860 + 0-804 + 0-705 + 0.656 + 0581 + OS41 + O481 + 0-445 + 0-395 = 6431 Now assume that, as a result of the application of a solid lubricant to the splines, the corresponding coefficients of friction fi2 and fis have a reasonable value of 0-05. In this case, yi2 will be 0-0099 and ‘1a will be 00062. The summation Z, will then be Lr = 0-994 + 0974 + 0.962 + 0942 + 0931 + 0917 + 0-902 + 0-882 + 0-872 + 0-860 9236 ‘Comparison of these two summations shows that, assuming an external normal load P of unity, the normal load through the disc pack drops fai [sro nMmore sharply, a8 a result of spline friction, in the clutch without the application of solid lubricant to the splines. These summation: also show that the torque- and power-transmission capability of the clutch with solid-lubricated splines is nearly 44% hhigher than that of the conventional unit without Solid-lubricated splines. Furthermore, it can be seen that, if the last rotor disc and stator disc were ‘omitted from the solid-lubricated pack, thereby reducing the total number of discs to 9, i.c., a reduc- tion of about 18%, the summation would be 7:504, ‘as against 6-431 for the conventional pack, so that the smaller solid-lubricated pack would still have a torque and power capacity nearly 17% higher. Example 2 In this example, consideration is given to a dry running multi-disc clutch having the same geometry and the same number of rotor and stator discs as the clutch in the previous example. In this case, how- ever, it is assumed that the value of fi is 0-35 and that the value of fe and fs for splines without the application of solid lubricant is 0-50—a conservative value, as the coefficient of friction of steel on steel under dry-running conditions may actually be about 06s. Under these conditions, the values of 72 and ys are respectively 0-230 and 0-145, and the summation E will then be E = 0872 + 0546 + 0414 + 0257 + 0198 +0123 + 0-082 + 0-059 + 0-046 + 0-029 = 2632 This summation for the dry-running clutch with- ‘out the application of solid lubricant to the splines clearly illustrates the extremely sharp drop in normal load through the pack of discs and explains why, with this type of clutch, it is common practice to use relatively few discs. Now suppose that the value of fxs and fxs is reduced to 0-05 as a result of the application of solid lubricant to the splines. ‘The values of yz2 and 2 i then be 0023 and 00145 respectively, and the summation 1. becomes E = 0986 + 0-940 + 0912 + 0873 + 0-835 + 0-806 + 0-788 + 0-750 + 0-729 + 0697 = 8316 From this summation, the benefits conferred by reducing spline friction are obvious, inasmuch as the ‘omitted from the solid-lubricated pack correspond- ing to a reduction of about 55%, in the total number of discs, the disc pack would still have a torque and ower capacity more than 40% higher than that of the conventional pack with the full complement of eleven discs. 8 jisc-Surtace Temperature It has been shown by Newcomb and Merritt? that the maximum temperature rise Ts at the nth friction surface in a multi-disc clutch undergoing ‘engagement can be expressed in terms of the follow- ing proportionality Fl vser gee cn nete).ca where Fs is the axial force on the nth surface, and a = Fas: Fe represents an effect of spline friction, Also, 2 = Md(Ma)i where d = thickness of the disc, @_ = thermal diffusivity of the disc, and 'M = reciprocal of the slipping period In view of the calculated decreases in normal load through clutch packs, as exemplified in the summations given in the previous examples, eq. (2) shows that one of the consequences of spline fric~ tion is to cause much higher temperatures to be generated at the loading end of a multi-disc pack. Because, however, the reduction in spline friction derived from the application of a solid lubricant to the splines evidently results in a much more uniform load distribution, it will also result in a much more uniform temperature distribution. Consequently, if a pack of discs is likely to fail for thermal reasons, the solid-lubricated pack will permit a very much higher dissipation of energy before failure occurs. Conclusion From the foregoing considerations, it is clear that the simple and inexpensive application of a suitable solid lubricant to the splines of multi-disc clutches and brakes significantly improves their per- formance. As a result, existing designs can be up- graded or more compact units incorporating fewer discs, but still superior in performance to conven- tional units without solid-lubricated splines, can be produced, with an appreciable reduction in manu- facturing costs. At the same time, the use of solid-lubricated splines improves the uniformity of heat generation and disc temperature—an important consideration not only in clutches, but also in braking applications, particularly aircraft brakes. © EFF IN: “The Consequences of Spline Friction in ‘Dise Brake and Clutch Packs" Trans. ASME. ‘Lubrication Technology, Vol. 90F, January 1968, 1 (@) E._F, Finan: “Multiple-Disc Power Transmission”. U'S. Patent Application, Senal No. 656,719. (@) TP, Newcous and H. E, Meamirr: “Effect of Friction on the Torque Capacity and Interface perature Reached during a Multi-Dise Clutch Enagage- Preat™ Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Vol. 4, 1962, pp. 383-385. ENGINEERS® DIGEsT