A novel tribological approach for selection of low friction engine lubricating oil

ABSTRACT A novel tribological rig-based approach is presented for the selection of engine oils with reduced friction characteristics. A combined experimental and numerical investigation has been performed to compare and assess the friction between the piston ring and liner of two different passenger cars lubricated with two different commercial engine oils. The experimental investigations were performed on reciprocating tribo-tester using actual piston ring and liner as the test specimens. The experiments were performed to investigate the influence of contact load and reciprocating frequency on the contact friction. The numerical investigation has been performed with the help of a mathematical model developed using the modified Reynolds equation considering the flow factors for Gaussian surfaces along with Greenwood and Trip’s asperity contact approach. The numerical results have been used to justify and correlate the experimental findings. This paper presents an approach for selection of engine oil for two popular passenger cars in the Indian market.