Thermohydrodynamic behavior of partially coated plain journal bearings with/without considering wall slip

Abstract

A thermohydrodynamic model was used to study the influence of partial composite coatings on the behavior of plain journal bearings, considering solid elastic deformations and wall slip occurring at the oil film–polytetrafluoroethylene coating interface, and heat conduction between film, coating, interlayer and basement. The purpose is to design partial polytetrafluoroethylene coating to obtain improved bearing behavior based on analyzing the maximum temperature and minimum film thickness in different coating positions (or slip zones). The influences of coating thickness and coating materials (polytetrafluoroethylene, graphite and diamond-like carbon coatings) at different coating positions are also presented. Results show that polytetrafluoroethylene coatings that are completely located in the film convergent region have a small influence on thermal behavior in both nonslip and slip cases. Without slip, a full polytetrafluoroethylene coating can increase the maximum temperature; however, wall slip occurring on a full polytetrafluoroethylene coating surface is helpful in decreasing the maximum temperature when accompanied by a lower minimum film thickness. A thicker polytetrafluoroethylene coating causes bearing seizures more readily. Unlike polytetrafluoroethylene, graphite and diamond-like carbon coatings improve the thermal behavior.