Tribotesting Equipment
We develop our own rigs and our own test methods, often customised to suit specific applications. In this way, the Tribomaterials Group has built up a wide range of tribological test equipment. They cover a large number of contact situations and mimic the conditions of a range of applications. Some are customised for specific applications, and others are deliberately given a more general design.
Most machines have been designed and built within the group, and appropriate test procedures have been developed.
Several of the rigs are unique:
- In-situ sliding / scratching in SEM
- Two more rigs for testing in vacuum environment, one with high temperature possibilities
- Load scanner
- ”Performance scanner”, designed for efficient evaluation of gradient materials
- Rig for realistic testing of combustion engine valves
- Miniature rig for detailed studies of the tool/wood interaction in mechanical pulping
- Small scale sliding contact rig for sliding on snow or ice
The equipment
Pin-on-disc rig, Pinne-skiva maskinen
Contact situation | Sliding contact, ball on flat or pin on flat |
Varied parameters | Load, speed, lubrication, temperature, atmosphere |
Studied parameters | Friction, wear and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | 5 mm pin or ball against 50 mm disc |
Notes | Wide range of disc shapes and sizes allowed. Heating stage (max 500°C) may be mounted. |
Sliding contact rig, Stor Svarven
Contact situation | Sliding contact, crossed cylinders, pin on cylinder Circular track around the cylinder or – more often – a helical track, which allows continuous feed of fresh countersurface to the stationary contact. This is more relevant for tool like situations, where the tool continuously meets new work material. |
Varied parameters | Load, speed, "counter material", continuous or intermittent contact (pneumatic actuator). Often used for testing tool materials for metal cutting or rock drilling. |
Studied parameters | Friction, wear and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | Stationary pin: ø 5 mm, l20 mm Rotating cylinder: ø 150 mm, 500 mm |
Notes | Many configurations available, wide load and speed spans, stationary/intermittent contact, etc. Rig designed by modification of large turning lathe. |
Sliding contact rig, Lill-Svarven
Contact situation | Sliding contact, crossed cylinder, flat on cylinder, etc. load constant or automatically increasing up to seizure limit. |
Varied parameters | Load, speed, lubrication |
Studied parameters | Friction, wear, seizure, and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | Stationary pin:14 mm thick, 7 mm*20 mm area Rotating cylinder: 40 mm diameter, 500 mm length |
Notes | Rig designed by modification of small turning lathe. Continuous load increasing mode ideal for finding critical load/ seizure limit in continuous sliding. Adaptable also for lubricated cam/follower type contact. |
Sliding on ice and snow rig, Lill Vasan
Contact situation | Sliding contact between e.g miniature ski and snow or ice. |
Varied parameters | Load, speed (up to 3.5 m/s), temperature (down to -14°C) |
Studied parameters | Friction |
Typical specimen size | Ski: 20 mm* 40 mm glide area Snow or ice covered disc ø 500 mm |
Notes | Essentially a pin-on-disc rig placed in a top-opening refrigerator. Ice sheet easily formed by freezing directly on the disc. Snow formed by spraying water with an air brush. |
Reciprocating sliding contact rig, Elvis
Contact situation | Reciprocating sliding contact, ball on flat, cylinder on flat |
Varied parameters | Load, stroke, frequency, temperature (lower flat specimen heated). System for intermittent spray lubrication. |
Studied parameters | Friction, wear and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | Flat: 15 x 15 x 100 mm Stationary cylinder: ø 10 mm, l10 mm |
Notes | Rig designed primarily to mimic the cylinder liner/piston ring contact. The rig has a double crank mechanism, and two holder arms for the stationary cylindrical specimens, allowing two simultaneous tests. |
Reciprocating sliding contact rig, Rock Olga
Contact situation | Reciprocating sliding contact, ball on flat (cylinder on flat) |
Varied parameters | Load, stroke, frequency, temperature (lower flat specimen heated) |
Studied parameters | Friction, wear and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | Flat: 15 x 5 x 40 mm Stationary ball: ø 10 mm |
Notes | Basically a smaller, single sided version of Elvis,with shorter maximum stroke and lower maximum load. |
Tribological load scanner, Saxriggen
Contact situation | Sliding contact (single stroke or reciprocating) |
Varied parameters | Load range, speed, lubricant, number of strokes (from 1/2 to several 100 000) |
Studied parameters | Friction (unique possibility to map µ vs load and no. of strokes withi one single test), wear, galling, and surface damage |
Typical specimen size | 100 mm ø 10 mm, cylindrical bars |
Notes | Wide load interval (e.g. 50–2400 N) covered by single test. Unique by resulting in that each point along the contact pass has only met one single point on the counterbody, and only experience one specific load, also in a test with numerous cycles. The resulting surface damage can thus be coupled to specific load and a specific position on the counterbody. The specimens can be preheated for short tests at elevated temperatures. |
Fretting and reciprocating rig, Skak-Nisse
Contact situation | Fretting or reciprocating sliding |
Varied parameters | Load, stroke, frequency, speed, lubrication, current load, atmosphere (including flowing gas corrosion test) |
Studied parameters | Friction, seizure, contact resistance, contact area growth, surface damage and wear |
Typical specimen size | ø 10 mm, l 20 mm cylinders, alternatively ball on flat |
Notes | Initially developed for testing electrical contacts, but very versatile. Several optional specimen shapes and sizes. |
Rolling contact rigs, Rullrika och Rolle
Contact situation | Rolling (or rolling/sliding) contact |
Varied parameters | Load, speed, dry/drip lubricated, (degree of sliding) |
Studied parameters | Wear, surface damage and subsurface fatigue |
Typical specimen size | Max ø 10 mm, 50–100 mm long cylindrical bar |
Notes | Two very similar rigs. The central specimen is changed or repositioned each test, while the counter surface discs are reground after a number of tests. |
Particle erosion rig, Erofugen
Contact situation | Particle erosion, particles accelerated during passage through channels in the spinning disc. |
Varied parameters | Particle size, type, speed and impact angle |
Studied parameters | Erosion rate and damage mechanism |
Typical specimen size | 10 x10 mm, 20 x 20 mm, thickness 3-10 mm |
Notes | Up to 18 specimens can be tested simultaneously. |
Micro abrasive wear test, Kraterslipen
Contact situation | Abrasion (grinding) of small spherical crater on flat surface. Diamond particles slurry. |
Varied parameters | Specified set of load, speed and abrasive particles |
Studied parameters | Volume loss (and surface damage mechanism) |
Typical specimen size | 15 x 15 x 3 mm, ø 20 mm grinding wheel |
Notes | Primarily a well specified test for the quality of thin hard coatings. Unique by being capable of giving a measure of the coating without influence from coating thickness or substrate material. |
In-situ scratcher – In-situ reparen
Contact situation | Scratching by abrasive tips (e.g. spherical diamond) or soft tips (e.g. aluminium) in the SEM |
Varied parameters | Load (≈ 0.1–3 N), tip shape |
Studied parameters | Deformation and chip formation mechanisms in abrasion and grinding, failure mechanism of thin coatings. With soft metal tips on harder flats, primarily surface damage, material transfer, friction. |
Typical specimen size | 15 x 10 x 4 mm |
Notes | Direct high resolution observation in the SEM. |
Flat-on-flat rig, Stora blå
Contact situation | Reciprocating sliding, self-adjusting flat-on-flat |
Varied parameters | Load (2– 20 kN, corresponding to nominal pressures 22– 220 MPa). Speed (up to 4 mm/s). Temperature. Presence of water or lubricant. |
Studied parameters | Friction, deformation, galling and wear |
Typical specimen size | Upper: 20 x 4,6 x 4,6 mm (all +0, -0.1) mm Lower: 75 (±0.1) x 15 (±0.1) x 15 (+0, -0.1) mm |
Anmärkningar |
Contact situation | Sliding, wire against cylinder |
Varied parameters | Mechanical load, electrical load, speed |
Studied parameters | Contact resistance, electrical noise, wear |
Typical specimen size | Cylinder: ø 100 mm. Wire: ø 0.5 mm, l 50 mm, up to 5 wires simultaneously in separate tracks |
Notes | Initially developed to investigate a very specific contact situation. The stationary wires are individually pressed against the rotating cylinder |
Contact situation | Engine valve against valve seat insert, opening and closing motion resulting in impact and microscopic sliding. |
Varied parameters | Mechanical load, frequency, temperature, number of cycles, feed of heated air with ppm levels of vaporised motor oil |
Studied parameters | Wear, formation and break down of protective tribofilm |
Typical specimen size | Valve head: ø 40 mm, stem length: 170 mm |
Studerade parametrar | Nötning, tillväxt och nedbrytning av skyddande tribofilm |
Typisk provstorlek | Ventilhuvud: ø 40 mm, skaftlängd: 170 mm |
Scratch tester
Contact situation | Hard stylus scratching over a flat surface, typically a conical diamond stylus with rounded tip (the Rockwell shape), r = 200 µm |
Varied parameters | The normal load is linearly ramped along the scratch, e. g. from 0-100 N |
Studied parameters | Scratch deformation, fracture, adhesion of coatings |
Typical specimen size | 20 x20 x 5 mm |
Notes | Mostly used to study scratch resistance and adhesive behaviour of hard ceramic coatings on metallic substrates, but useful for many types of studies |