Scuffing analysis of roller-shoe mechanism after an aggressive test

Abstract

Abstract The roller-shoe assembly is a known and efficient mechanism used for movement transmission in order to obtain mechanical energy. This mechanism is found in high pressure pumps and its role is to change the rotating motion in a translation one. During the running time, some wear types can be identified such as scuffing, corrosion, material removal. Scuffing is the main type of wear appearing in this mechanism. The aim of our paper is to analyse the behaviour of these two components (roller and shoe) over an aggravating test. The main defect is low clearance between components. The roller and shoe assembly is mounted in a diesel fuel pump for test. The test chosen for this experiment is Low Sommerfeld Number. It was stopped after 10% from time set. After visual analysis, it was observed the roller-shoe scuffing. The shoe was analysed and it was observed that the diamond like carbon (DLC) layer is non-conform. In the same pump, the affected components were replaced with new components to be convinced that the wear was caused by low clearance between them correlated to non-conform DLC layer. The test results confirm the reason of scuffing.