Modeling Thermal-Visco-Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (Tvehl) Interfaces Of Polymer-Based Materials

This paper reports a novel thermal-visco-elasohydrodynamic lubrication (TVEHL) model for analyzing the lubrication behavior of the interface formed by an elastic sphere and a polymer half-space. The temperature dependent viscoelastic displacement of the polymer surface is calculated through the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence theory and frequency-temperature superposition. The discrete convolution and fast Fourier transform (DC-FFT) algorithm is used for efficient solution computation. The model is verified by comparing results from its degenerated forms with those from thermal-viscoelastic (TVE) contact and thermal-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) theories. The results from the current model with and without considering temperature effect are also compared. The new TVEHL model is explored to study the viscoelastic material property, entraining speed, sliding-to-rolling ratio, and the coupled thermal-viscoelasticity effects.