LUBRICATION OF BEARING STEELS WITH ELECTROPLATED GOLD UNDER HEAVY LOADS
Abstract
The lubricating action of electroplated gold for 52100 steel and 440C stainless steel in sliding motion under a 150-pound load was examined with a modified Alpha Tester (Model LFW-1). The advantage of gold plating was found to be entirely that of wear prevention while the sliding friction coefficient was not altered significantly. The wear lives of thick films were much longer than for thin films. A 20 film had a wear life of 150,000 revolutions. Too thick a film results in fatigue failure at the gold-steel interface. Silver, copper, and two gold alloys were found to be far less effective than pure gold as a lubricant while nickel was not at all effective. The failure of the plated film was usually marked by a rapid increase in wear rate. With thick gold alloy films, wear debris in the form of thin sheets were obtained in addition to the fine particles normally found with metallic films. The appearance of the wear tracks indicated that the gold films underwent considerable plastic deformation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0653974
Entities
People
- Riitsu Takagi
- Tung Liu
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory