MEASURING THE EFFECT OF OIL VISCOSITY ON OIL FILM THICKNESS IN ENGINE JOURNAL BEARINGS

The minimum oil-film thickness in the front main bearing of a 3.8 L, V-6 engine was measured at 3,000 r/min, and 140 N.m using an electrical resistance technique. For a series of seven Newtonian, single-grade oils, film thickness correlated with oil viscosity measured either in a kinematic or in a high-shear-rate viscometer. For a series of fifteen polymer-containing, non-Newtonian, multigrade oils, however, no single measure of viscosity adequately correlated with film thickness for all of the oils. By eliminating four multigrade oils from the combined single and multigrade data sets, it was possible to correlate film thickness to the viscosity (of the remaining multigrade and Newtonian oils) measured at 150 deg C and 500,000/s, conditions which are believed to be representative of temperatures and shear rates in bearing oil films. Possible explanations for the lack of correlation with the entire set of twenty-two oils are discussed.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Fuels and Lubricants Meeting San Francisco, California, October 31-November 3, 1983.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • Spearot, J A
  • Murphy, C K
  • Rosenberg, R C
• Publication Date: 1983

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13 p.
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Engine oils; Journal bearings; Measurement; Multigrade oils; Oil spills; Polymers; Shear rate; Temperature; Thickness; Thin films; Viscosity
• Old TRIS Terms: Oil-film-thickness
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00387440
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 831689, HS-036 797
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 30 1984 12:00AM