This article was downloaded by: [75.149.200.

233] On: 27 October 2011, At: 14:05 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Tribology Transactions
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utrb20

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns for Flow and Friction Control on Radial Lip Seal PerformanceA Feasibility Study
Katherine H. Warren & Lyndon Scott Stephens
a a a

Bearings and Seals Laboratory, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 40506, USA

Available online: 30 Oct 2009

To cite this article: Katherine H. Warren & Lyndon Scott Stephens (2009): Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns for Flow and Friction Control on Radial Lip Seal PerformanceA Feasibility Study, Tribology Transactions, 52:6, 731-743 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10402000903097361

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Tribology Transactions, 52: 731-743, 2009 Copyright C Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers ISSN: 1040-2004 print / 1547-397X online DOI: 10.1080/10402000903097361

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns for Flow and Friction Control on Radial Lip Seal PerformanceA Feasibility Study
KATHERINE H. WARREN and LYNDON SCOTT STEPHENS Bearings and Seals Laboratory University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA

It has been shown that deterministic microfeatures on the shaft of a radial lip seal impact seal behavior. This work seeks to determine whether it is feasible to control lubricant pumping direction and enhance pump rate with microcavities. The effect of nickel lm triangular cavity orientation on seal performance, in particular the ow direction, the pumping rate, and the friction torque, is investigated experimentally. Cavity shape, area fraction, and depth are held constant while cavity orientation is varied. The oil drop test results are compared to those for conventional seals; i.e., plain stainless steel shafts and shafts with an electroplated nickel surface but no micro-cavities. It was found that shafts with surface texture designs can control the pumping direction and increase the sealing capability via enhanced pump rates by up to eight times that of stainless steel shafts. Preferential orientations pumped oil toward the wider end, or base, of the triangular cavities while patterns in neutral, or nonpreferential, orientations were found to reverse pump. The presence of microcavities reduced the friction torque by as much as 51% when pumping and in all cases reduced the operating temperatures. In some cases, the microcavities also reduced the friction torque 813% when the seal was operating in a starved condition.
KEY WORDS Lip Seals; Hydrodynamic Lubrication; Surface Modication; Deterministic Microfeatures; Reverse Pumping; Experimental Results

INTRODUCTION
Radial lip seals are one of the most widely used type of dynamic seal and serve one of two purposesseal a uid in or seal

Manuscript received August 21, 2008 Manuscript accepted May 1, 2009 Review led by Alan Lebeck

contaminants out. The basic components of a radial lip seal are shown in Fig. 1 and include the elastomer (rubber lip), metal casing, rotating or reciprocating shaft, garter spring, and sealed uid. The shaft outer diameter is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the elastomer, which introduces an interference t between the two. This interference, together with the radial force due to the garter spring and the beam effect of the elastomer, maintains the t of the elastomer to the shaft in light of variations such as misalignment and changes in the system over time such as wear. Once in operation, the motion of the shaft begins to wear the elastomer at its apex and a region known as the sealing zone develops at the elastomer/shaft interface as shown in Fig. 2. The prole of the elastomer in this region is shown at in the sketch of Fig. 2 for generality, but deformations will occur depending on the specics of a given seal. The formation of small irregularities on the elastomer in this region (see inset (a) of Fig. 2) as it wears has been credited for the ability of a radial lip seal to seal. The irregularities, or microasperities, generate a hydrodynamic pressure distribution that lifts the elastomer away from the shaft such that a lubricating lm develops and the asymmetric shear deformation of the asperities in the circumferential direction creates a small microscopic pump rate that redirects leakage back into the sealed cavity resulting in the sealing phenomenon known as reverse pumping (Hirano and Ishiwata (1); Jagger (2); Kammuller (3); Kawahara and Hirabayashi (4); Muller (5)). Without proper asperity formation, leakage in the direction opposite of the desired seal may occur. Paige and Stephens (6) characterized the microasperities on the elastomer of tested lip seals, noting their size, shape, and distribution. The tests conducted in the course of that work were based on recommendations of Horve (7), including the experimental design, the shaft surface roughness, and the seal alignment parameters. Other studies showed that the shaft surfaces of conventional lip seals tend to an equilibrium roughness after completing a run-in time and reaching a steady-state condition (Gawlinski (8)). The use of deterministic microasperities on one surface of two parallel plates was shown to increase the lm thickness between the plates and improve lubrication when one was in motion relative to the other (Anno, et al. (9)). Researchers began to

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

731

732

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

Fig. 1Cross section of a typical lip seal; Chicago Rawhide 2000 (Paige (16)).

consider the use of deterministic microasperities on lip seal shaft surfaces (see inset (b) of Fig. 2) and how they might impact seal performance in conjunction with, or instead of, nondeterministic asperities that develop on the elastomer. Otto investigated the use of triangular asperities on radial lip seal shafts with the intention of enhancing lip seal interface hydrodynamics, observing that if the ow within the sealing zone could be controlled, then seal leakage, wear, and temperature could be controlled (Otto (10)). He found that appropriate asperity dimensions and patterns enabled this control and showed improvement of both seal efciency and seal life. Otto was restricted to certain asperity sizes

due to the manufacturing capabilities available at the time and he did not investigate the effects of cavities on the shaft surface. A detailed theoretical analysis is beyond the scope of this article, but the experimental work completed is built upon the theoretical work of previous researchers. Much of the analysis of Salant (11) and Salant and Flaherty (12) is considered in understanding what is occurring physically in the current testing. This includes the deformation of the elastomer lip due to the pressure distribution at the interface as well as the possibility of a starved operation due to an ingested meniscus. This ingested meniscus condition may occur if a surface has a signicantly high reverse pumping rate such that little or no lubricant remains in the interface. Siripuram and Stephens (13) conducted a numerical study on the effects of deterministic asperity and cavity shape, size, orientation, and distribution on the lubrication performance of thrust surfaces and determined the sensitivity of the friction coefcient and leakage rate to those parameters. Hadinata and Stephens (14) presented a study with similar deterministic asperity considerations as Siripuram and Stephens but for radial lip seal application and developed an elastohydrodynamic model for the seal with deterministic features on the shaft surface. Impellizzeri (15) also used numerical models to investigate the effect of deterministic microfeatures on lip seal shafts, including both asperities and cavities. The use of mass-conserving Jakobsson-Floberg-Olsson (JFO) boundary conditions in these works enabled the evaluation of the effect of the features not only on the leakage rate of the system but also on the relationship between feature orientation and leakage. The work of Impellizzeri (15) included a case study on equilateral triangular features that predicts that triangular asperities will pump the lubricant toward the apex of the triangle while the cavities will pump toward the triangle base. The current work presents experimental results for a nickel lm of oriented triangular cavities on the shaft surface of a radial lip seal. Previously tested radial lip seal patterns did not

Fig. 2Sealing zone.

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

733

Fig. 3Sample manufacturing process. Adapted from Venkatesan (18).

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

include cavities, only triangular asperities, and did not consider all the orientations tested here. Smaller dimensions are possible in this work as well due to a UV photolithography process developed at the University of Kentucky Bearings and Seals Laboratory. The feasibility of controlling the lubricant pumping direction and enhancing the pump rate with triangular microcavities is considered and observations on the effect of these cavities on seal performance are made. The results are compared to those of conventional radial lip seals (bare stainless steel shafts) and electroplated nickel shafts that have no deterministic cavities. The performance parameters of interest include the pumping direction of the cavities as well as the pumping rate, the friction torque, and the temperature.

SAMPLE MANUFACTURE
Fabrication of the shaft surfaces to be tested is not the focus of the current work, but a brief overview of the manufacturing process is provided here for completeness. The ultraviolet (UV) photolithography and nickel deposition process of Kortikar (17) for at surfaces was modied for application to cylindrical surfaces and is shown in Fig. 3. Stainless steel rings machined to specications recommended by Horve (7) serve as the shaft substrate. The process starts with the preparation of this substrate including anodic dissolution and cleaning, followed with the application of photoresist (SU-8 10), pattern masking, and UV exposure. After a post-bake process is complete, the photoresist is developed. With the photoresist in place, nickel is electroplated onto the steel substrate through a series of emersions including C12, woods strike, and nickel sulfamate. Finally, the photoresist is removed, leaving the shaft coated with nickel microfeatures as shown in Fig. 4. The stainless steel and solid nickel surfaces tested are shown in the gure as well as the orientations of the triangular shaft features. Those triangles oriented in the same direction as shaft rotation are labeled cavities leading and dened to be at a 0 rotation. Triangular cavities with apexes rotated +/90 are referenced as cavities to air side and cavities to oil side, respectively. Those surfaces with triangular cavity apexes rotated 180 such that they point in the direction opposite of the shaft rotation are labeled cavities lagging.

The selection of the equilateral triangle as the microfeature to evaluate in this work is based upon the previous numerical studies mentioned above (Siripuram and Stephens (13); Hadinata and Stephens (14); Impellizzeri (15)). As shown in these works, preferential pumping requires an asymmetric geometry and that geometric orientation has a signicant inuence on the pumping rate. The manufactured triangular microcavities evaluated in the present study are designed to be 5 m deep with a base of 107 m and a height of 78 m. The center-to-center spacing for the cavities-to-air and cavities-to-oil patterns is 150 m in the circumferential direction and 114 m in the axial direction with the apexes staggered. For the cavities leading and the cavities lagging patterns, the center-to-center spacing is 150 m axially and 114 m circumferentially with apexes staggered. The microcavity dimensions, depth, and spacing result from the evaluation of previous work as well as consideration of manufacturing capabilities.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental setup was developed by Paige (6) and consists of a tribometer with lip seal assembly adaptors as shown in Fig. 5. A ring with the desired test surface is installed on the rotating adapter and the elastomer seal is installed at the top of the stationary oil bath. The elastomer seals were acquired in groups from the same production batches in an effort to reduce seal-toseal variability. All seals are made of nitrile rubber and have the same geometric dimensions and tolerancing. The seal and shaft are aligned such that the seal tilt and the total eccentricity meet the desired specications (Horve (7)). As installed, the air side or barrel angle of the seal is measured at approximately 20 and the oil side angle is measured at approximately 59 . These angles are in the typical installed air side and oil side ranges of 20 35 and 4070 , respectively, and satisfy the requirement that the oil side angle be larger than the air side angle to achieve reverse pumping (Horve (7)). The bath is lled with SAE grade 20W50 oil and the shaft is pressed into the elastomer. A graduated cylinder connected to the oil bath by tubing is placed above the elastomer/shaft interface, creating a pressure of approximately 5.38 kPa (0.78 psi). The tests are conducted at a rotational speed

734

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

Fig. 4Patterns tested and resulting shaft wear tracks.

of 750 rpm. These and other test details are summarized in Table 1. A data acquisition system is used to record the parameter measurements of interest including speed, friction torque, and temperature all with respect to time. A load cell is used to measure the friction torque in the system. The temperatures are measured using three type T thermocouples placed 120 apart on the seal housing, one in the graduated cylinder of oil, one in the ambient oil supply, and one on a surface away from the test for a baseline room temperature measurement. The viscosity of the

oil changes with temperature and is therefore calculated from the temperature measurements recorded during testing. This calculation is achieved using the following viscosity equation from Booser (19) where is the kinematic viscosity in centistokes and T is the temperature in degrees Kelvin. log log (v + 0.7) = 8.7257 3.3565 log T [1]

The viscosity curve generated for the 20W-50 oil used in these tests is shown in Fig. 6. The range of temperatures for steady-state operation at 750 rpm is indicated in the gure as well. Over the

Fig. 5Test setup (Paige (16)).

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

735

TABLE 1TEST PARAMETERS Seal material Shaft material Shaft O.D. Shaft surface Lubricant Seal tilt (0.05 ) Total eccentricity ( 0.0100 in) Seal pressure Sump level Test speed Seal run time (@ 750 rpm) Radial load Viscosity (@ 40 C) Nitrile rubber Stainless steel Nickel electroplating 139.7 mm (5.5 inches) 0.250.50 m Ra SAE 20W-50 0.026 -0.047 0.0406-0.2413 mm (0.0016-0.0095 in) 5.38 kPa (0.78 psi) Full 750 rpm 660 h 64.6-147.8 N/m (5.9-13.5 oz/in) 170 mm2 /s (cSt)

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

ied amount of time is allowed to pass between the recovery of the system from one oil drop and the injection of the next. If a seal forward pumps, then the room-temperature oil is added to the graduated cylinder connected to the oil bath and the time it takes for that oil level to drop a specied amount is recorded, resulting in a forward pumping rate. This test is conducted for the only forward-pumping shaft in this study, triangular cavities oriented to the oil side of the seal. The amount of time required to complete any set of tests varied from seal to seal depending on the time required for the seal to come to steady-state temperature before the graduated oil injections began and the individual pumping rates of each seal. In this set of 18 shafts, 6 h was the minimum amount of time required to complete the testing at 750 rpm and 60 h was the longest required time. The pumping rates resulting from these tests are one parameter used to compare shaft performance and, in the case of reverse pumping, sealing capability.

temperature variation seen in these tests, the viscosity changes no more than approximately 20 mm2 /s. However, the measured temperature values used in this calculation are those of the seal housing close to, but not at, the elastomer/shaft interface. The temperature and therefore the viscosity changes at the interface are potentially higher as oil moves through and/or is pumped out of this region. Two types of tests are conductedone for seals with patterns expected to reverse pump, i.e., seal, and one for seals with patterns expected to forward pump. Forward pumping is dened as an enhanced leakage that pumps the lubricant out of the oil bath and through the interface to the environment side of the seal and can be used to exclude contaminants. If the seal reverse pumps, then a series of oil drop tests are performed as shown in Fig. 7. Five of the six surface types tested in this study are evaluated using oil drop tests where known amounts of room-temperature oil (250, 500, 1000, 1500 L) are alternately injected on top of the elastomer/shaft interface using a digital pipette and the time required for the seal to pump this oil through the interface into the oil bath is recorded. The result is a reverse pumping rate. A spec-

RESULTS Shaft Condition

Triangular cavities in four orientations were analyzed. The test results for bare stainless steel and electroplated nickel shafts with no deterministic cavities were also included in the analysis for baseline comparison. Figure 4 shows a representative sample of each orientation considered as previously discussedthe cavity apex toward the environment or the air side of the seal, the cavity apex toward the oil side of the seal, the cavity apex leading the direction of rotation, and the cavity apex lagging the direction of rotation. Also seen in the gure is the nal wear track developed on each shaft during testing. For the cavity patterns, the dark background outside of the wear track is the electroplated nickel with the lighter stainless steel substrate showing at the bottom of each triangular cavity. The nickel in the wear track region has been worn and polished by the elastomer. The nal wear track width after the completion of all testing was measured and ranged from an average of 674 217 m on the cavities oriented to oil shafts to over 1000 m on the electroplated nickel (no

Fig. 6Viscosity curve for 20W-50 oil indicating temperature range of operation.

736

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

Fig. 7Oil drop test; gure concept from Muller and Nru (20).

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

cavities) and cavities oriented to air shafts (1091 233 m and 1024 31 m, respectively). The neutral cavity patterns of triangles leading and lagging had similar nal wear track width averages of 829 158 m and 811 124 m, respectively. The shafts with the widest average nal wear track width, electroplated nickel (no cavities) and cavities oriented to air; also had the highest average starved friction torque. These results are not surprising since operation in a starved or partially starved condition can result in contact between the lip and shaft and therefore lead to greater wear. An optical prolometer was used to analyze both the tested and untested regions of the shaft surfaces as shown in Fig. 8. The region outside of the wear track is the unworn or untested surface, and the region within the wear track is the worn or tested surface. The average surface roughness, Ra , of each of these areas was measured. For shafts with cavity patterns, the average Ra unworn = 2.425 m with a standard deviation of 0.23 m and Ra worn = 2.375 m with a standard deviation of 0.29 m. The

approximate 5 m depth of the cavities is reected in these surface roughness measurements and some surface wear is evident.

Flow
As expected, the baseline stainless steel shafts reverse pumped. The shafts with electroplated nickel but no deterministic cavities were also found to reverse pump. The cavity patterns in preferential pumping orientations on the shaft surface i.e., +/90 controlled the direction of the lubricant ow by pumping oil toward their base. Therefore, the cavities oriented toward the air side of the seal reverse pumped, and cavities oriented toward the oil side forward pumped. Figure 9 shows a sketch of what is occurring at the interface for a reverse-pumping pattern during an oil drop test injection. The asymmetric contact pressure distribution of the elastomer is shown as well as the circumferential lubricant ow due to shaft rotation (Qin ) and the ow due to reverse pumping (Qout ). It has been theorized by Hadinata and Stephens (14) and Impellizzeri (15) that the

Fig. 8Surface roughness.

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

737

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

Fig. 9Reverse pumping representation.

physical phenomenon responsible for the directional ow is the asymmetric pressure distribution under the lip due to the asymmetric geometry of the triangular microfeatures. These previous works considered only a solution of the Reynolds equation and the pressure-driven ow and did not consider the possibility of deformation and/or bulging of the elastomer into the cavities nor the possible presence of either rubber or nickel debris as the seal wears. Otto (10), who investigated triangular asperities, saw evidence in his testing that the elastomer did deform around microfeatures and between circumferential rows such that contact was made with the features. The cavities in neutral orientations at 0 and 180 reverse pumped in both orientations. The direction of the pumping for these neutral orientation patterns is attributed to the nondeterministic asperities on the elastomer and its asymmetric contact pressure distribution. The corresponding pumping rates are shown in Fig. 10 where reverse pumping is represented by a neg200 100

ative sign. These results are averages over multiple tests on three shafts of each pattern and therefore error bars indicating the standard deviation are also included. The standard deviation for many of the results, including the friction torque and temperature values presented subsequently, is large. Though every effort was made to replicate test specimens and conditions, each elastomer/ring combination is unique and as such the unique wear process for each combined with the inherent variability of the elastomers results in the variations seen in testing. The standard deviation of the pumping rate for the forward-pumping pattern, triangular cavities oriented toward the oil side of the seal, was notably less than that of the other deterministic patterns as seen in Fig. 10. As the only pattern to forward pump, this pattern is the only one that had a continuously lubricated interface. The other patterns experienced periods of starvation due to reverse pumping when little to no oil was present in the interface, most likely resulting in additional wear and therefore greater variability.

Cav Oil SS Ni Cav Air Cav Lead Cav Lag

Pumping Rate (microL/min)

0 -100 -200 -300 -400 -500 -600

Fig. 10Pumping rate.

738

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

TABLE 2PERFORMANCE COMPARISON TO BASELINE STAINLESS STEEL CASE % Lubricated Friction Torque Reduction (over Stainless Steel) Nickel Triangular cavities to air Triangular cavities to oil Triangular cavities leading Triangular cavities lagging
Based

% Starved Friction Torque Reduction (over Stainless Steel) 5.33 (torque increase) 2.01 (torque increase) N/A 8.15 13.79

Factor of Pumping Rate Increase (over Stainless Steel) 2.06 8.13 1.18 7.92 8.37

18.59 51.17 3.66 26.72 19.45

on average values from multiple tests on 18 shafts.

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

The pumping rates for the four shaft surfaces with deterministic cavities are higher than the rate for the conventional stainless steel shaft and the rates of the three patterns that reverse pumped (cavities to air, cavities leading, and cavities lagging) are also higher than that of the nickel shaft. The deterministic patterns increase reverse pumping by as much as eight times that of stainless steel as summarized in Table 2. An increased reverse pumping rate is considered in this context to indicate a greater sealing capability of the seal. The stainless steel pump rate is due only to elastomer asperities, which provide minimal hydrodynamic lift and result in the lowest pumping rate of the tested patterns. As predicted by Hadinata and Stephens (14), the cavity patterns, when pumping, provide greater hydrodynamic lift than the bare stainless steel, resulting in an increase in lm thickness, which generates a greater ow rate per the relationship Qz = h3 12 P dx z [2]

where Qz is the ow rate, h3 is the lm thickness, is the dynamic viscosity, P is the pressure, and x and z are the circumferential and axial directions, respectively. An increase in lm thickness will also reduce the shear stress on, and therefore deformation of, asperities found on the elastomer and for a conventional seal where the elastomer is running on an unmodied stainless steel shaft may result in a lower pumping rate. Here, however, the increase in reverse pumping due to deterministic features dominates and results in a reverse-pumping rate increase. The forward-pumping pattern, though still exhibiting a greater pump rate than stainless steel, does not show as signicant an increase in the pump rate as the other cavity patterns since the cavities in this case must overcome the action of the reverse-pumping elastomer asperities and the related asymmetric contact pressure distribution of the elastomer.

Friction Torque
Figure 11 shows the rst 5 h of a typical friction torque response for each orientation compared with that of the baseline stainless steel case. Each response includes an initial peak in friction torque due to the start of system rotation. The reversepumping patterns also exhibit a second friction torque peak that occurs when a small reservoir of oil that remains on top of the interface after installation pumps through the interface into the sump and the seal rst operates in a starved condition. The friction torque response of each shaft type initially decreases steeply, but this decrease becomes more gradual over time. After the system reaches an equilibrium temperature, the gradual

response is attributed to the relaxing of the interference t between the elastomer and shaft as the elastomer wears. Also seen in the response of the reverse-pumping patterns are periodic drops in friction torque. These drops correspond to the oil injections carried out in the course of the previously described oil drop tests used to measure the pumping rates. A representative set of these oil drop tests for a baseline stainless steel shaft and a shaft with cavities oriented to air is shown in Fig. 12. Lower amplitude noise is seen when reverse pumping occurs during these tests and also in the response of the forward-pumping seals (as shown in the cavities-to-oil plot of Fig. 11). The additional noise seen when not pumpingi.e., operating in a starved conditionis indicative of stick-slip friction occurring in the absence of full hydrodynamic lubrication. An overshoot in the friction torque response can be seen at the end of the oil drop tests when the seal initially returns to operation with a starved interface and is likely due to the inertia of the shaft assembly mass. This gure also shows the signicant reduction in friction torque for a reverse-pumping pattern when pumping as compared to that of the conventional stainless steel shaft surface. The width of each friction torque drop reects the amount of oil injected on the air side of the interface. For larger injections of oil, the seal requires more time to pump the uid through the interface, resulting in the wider periods of reduced torque. As seen in the gure and previously discussed in the Experimental Setup section, four different volumes of oil were injected throughout the course of testing. The enhanced pump rate of the textured shaft is also apparent in Fig. 12. The data of this work suggest that all of the reverse-pumping seals tested, including those with unmodied shafts, may be operating with ingested menisci when in a starved condition between the oil drop test injections. This is not surprising for seals with modied shafts due to their signicant pump rate increases. Though conventional radial lip seals (no shaft modications) generally operate with a full lubricant lm (Jagger (2)), the position of the meniscus during operation may vary and mixed lubrication conditions have been reported in the literature (Jagger (21); Salant (22); Horve (7)). Figure 13 shows the average friction torque measured for each type of shaft tested. For patterns that exhibit reverse pumping, both the friction torque when operating with a lubricated interface as well as that when operating in a starved condition are shown. These lubricated and starved values are averages of the friction torque while pumping when the oil is injected at the interface during an oil drop test and while operating starved between oil injections, respectively. The values included in averaging

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

739

Stainless Steel and Nickel (No Cavities)

4.5 4

Stainless Steel and Cavities to Air

4.5
Ni

Friction Tor que (N-m)

Friction Tor que (N-m)

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 50 100 150 Time (minutes) 200 250

NiSS SS

4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5

300

CavSS r Ai SS

Cav Air

Friction Torque (N-m)

50

100

Time (Minutes) Stainless Steel andCavities to Oil to Oil Stainless Steel and Cavities
4.5 4.5

Time (Minutes) Stainless Steel and Cavities Leading Stainless Steel and Cavities Leading
Cav Oil 4

150 Time (minutes)

200

250

300

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

Friction Tor que (N-m)

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 50 100 150 Time (minutes) 200

Friction Tor que (N-m)

CavSS Oil SS

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5

CavSS Lead SS

Cav Lead

Friction Torque (N-m)

250

300

50

100

Time (Minutes) Stainless Steel and Cavities Lagging Stainless Steel and Cavities Lagging
4.5 4

Time (Minutes)
Cav Lag

150 Time (minutes)

200

250

300

Friction Tor que (N-m)

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 50 100 150 200

Cav SS Lag SS

250

300

Time (Minutes)
Fig. 11Friction torque response samples.

are taken from the data acquired once the system has reached equilibrium; i.e., when a steady-state operating temperature is achieved. The friction torque reduction results summarized in Table 2 are based on these data. As shown in the gure, stainless steel friction torque values exhibit minimal change when the lubricant is introduced to the interface. The polished stainless steel shaft surface has very few asperities, leaving only those developed on the elastomer to contribute to the pumping action when the interface is lubricated and therefore causing little change in the hydrodynamics of the seal. The nickel shafts without deterministic cavities exhibit a slightly larger starved friction torque value and a lower lubricated friction torque value for a torque

reduction when pumping larger than that seen in the case of plain stainless steel (see Table 2). The presence of electroplated nickel introduces additional nondeterministic microasperities not present on the stainless steel shaft, resulting in better hydrodynamic effects; i.e., larger lm thickness and better lubricant pumping such that this greater difference between the lubricated and starved friction torque is seen. The absence of deterministic features, however, means that the direction and the rate of ow are dependent upon the contact pressure distribution and elastomer asperities. The shafts with a triangular cavity pattern oriented to the atmosphere side of the seal result in a friction torque value very

740

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

Stainless Steel
3 3

Cavities to Air

Friction torque overshoot

2.5 2.5

Friction Torque (N-m)

2120 2140 2160 2180 2200 2220 2240

Friction Torque (N-m)

1.5

1.5

0.5

0.5

0 2100

0 235

240

245

250

255

260

265

270

275

Time (minutes)

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

Lower amplitude noise when interface is lubricated.

Time (minutes)

Fig. 12Friction torque response during oil drop tests.

similar to that of the stainless steel and nickel shafts when operating with a starved interface. However, once the oil is introduced to the interface, the cavities-to-air pattern shows the greatest torque reduction of all the tested shafts, with values signicantly lower than those of either nickel or stainless steel. This reduction demonstrates the superior hydrodynamics of the cavities over the nondeterministic asperities of the stainless steel and nickel shafts as well as the result of directing the enhanced ow. Shafts with triangular cavities oriented to the oil side of the seal forward pump, resulting in a continuously lubricated interface such that operation in a starved condition does not occur. The lubricated friction torque of these shafts is lower than that of

the stainless steel shafts but is the highest of all shafts with electroplated nickel on the shaft surface. As discussed previously, this pattern has a low pump rate, which is the result of a smaller lm thickness and therefore may operate without the benet of full hydrodynamic lift such that the friction torque is not drastically reduced. The higher friction torque values may also be due to these seals maintaining a higher radial lip force throughout testing since the interference of the elastomer will not be reduced to the same extent as the patterns subject to greater wear due to operation in a starved condition. The nonpreferential patterns, cavities leading and lagging, have friction torque values when reverse pumping that are lower

Fig. 13Friction torque measurements.

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

741

95
SS

90
Ni

Cav Air

Temperature (deg C)

85

Cav Oil Cav Lead Cav Lag

80

75

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

70
Fig. 14Seal temperature during testing.

than that of stainless steel and nickel but not reduced as significantly as that of the shafts with cavities oriented to air. These nonpreferential patterns do, however, demonstrate the lowest friction torque values of the tested shafts when operating in a starved condition. The lack of lubricant guidance by these neutral patterns may result in better lubricant retention in the cavities even though high pump rates are seen due to the hydrodynamic lift the cavities provide. As summarized in Table 2, the neutral cavity patterns not only increase sealing capability by approximately eight times that of a bare stainless steel shaft, they also reduce friction torque by 813% in the starved condition, which will occur during normal operation when sealing. These results, which increased sealing capability and reduced operational friction torque, are desirable in lip seal performance.

Temperature
Figure 14 shows the temperature of each seal during testing. The reduction in temperature for patterns with deterministic cavities as compared to the baseline stainless steel case ranged from 3 to approximately 9 C. The life and performance of a nitrile rubber seal is sensitive to temperature, with a 14 C decrease having the potential to double the life of a seal (Horve (7)). The reductions seen in these experiments may not be signicant enough to double seal life but could contribute to some life extension. The lowest temperatures are seen for the cases of cavities leading and lagging, which are the patterns that also had the lowest starved operating torque and two of the highest pumping rates.

DISCUSSION
Conventional radial lip seal elastomers were used as manufactured in the experiments of this work. These seal designs are not optimized for the enhanced pump rates and lubricant ow control exhibited by the microcavities on the modied shaft surfaces. Varying features of the seal such as the radial load and elastomer contact angles would enable the seal to be designed to fully benet from the presence of microcavities on the shaft. It is probable

that seal performance parameters such as friction torque would be found sensitive to these types of seal modications. The results indicate that seals with higher wear, signied by larger nal wear track widths, have lower friction torque values when the sealing zone is lubricated. There is a twofold explanation for this result. First, as the elastomer wears, the interference t between the seal and the shaft is reduced, resulting in a lower load carried by the lm and a corresponding larger lm thickness and lower shear stress on the lm. Second, those seals with larger wear track widths due to higher wear will have more rows of cavities engaged to carry the radial load. This again results in a larger lm thickness as the load per cavity is reduced. The seals with larger nal wear track widths also result in higher friction torque when the sealing zone is starved. One possible explanation for this refers again to the wider track engaging more cavities, but in a starved condition this results in more contact in the interface and an increase in friction torque. The images in Fig. 4 and the plots of Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 are representative of the samples tested in the course of this work. They are examples that reect the average trends as previously discussed. When individual locations or tests are considered, a great deal of variation is seen. Since an integral part of lip seal operation is the wearing of the elastomer, this is not a surprising observation. The images of Fig. 4 show the nal wear track at one circumferential location on one ring of each surface tested. Taking a closer look at the individual variations reveals interesting behavior in the seals that does not always correspond with the performance results as might be expected. For the case of triangular cavities oriented to the air side of the seal, all three rings tested had similar nal wear track widths with an average width of 1024 m and a standard deviation of only 31 m. This might imply that the seals wore similarly and would therefore perform similarly. The lubricated friction torque of each cavitiesto-air seal supports this inference with very similar measured values. One of these seals, however, had a signicantly higher reverse-pumping rate approximately twice that of the other two

742

K. H. WARREN AND L. S. STEPHENS

cavities-to-air seals, with the highest reverse-pumping rate of all seals tested. This resulted in a higher starved friction torque and higher operating temperature for this seal. In contrast, the cavities-to-oil seals had an average nal wear track width of 674 m and a standard deviation of over 200 m. This large deviation was due to one cavity-to-oil seal having a nal wear track width signicantly larger than the other two cavities-to-oil seals. This seal, however, performed similarly to one of the seals with a narrower track while the other narrow tracked seal exhibited a greatly reduced pumping rate and lower friction torque and operating temperature. As previously stated, the neutrally oriented cavity patterns of leading and lagging triangles had similar average wear track widths of 829 and 811 m, respectively, with standard deviations of 158 and 124 m. Individually, however, one seal of each set of three resulted in a shaft wear scar noticeably wider or narrower than the other two as reected by the large standard deviations of the measurements. This variation in nal wear track width seemed to correspond with a higher and lower pumping rate, respectively, but had no appreciable impact on the operating temperature of the seal and resulted in no obvious correlation with variations in friction torque. Much like the variations seen in nal wear track width when individual seals are considered, variations in seal response are seen when looking at individual sets of test data as shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12. As the wear track images of Fig. 4 were single pictures representing sets of surfaces, the data plotted in these gures is a representative set selected from multiple available sets for each of the eighteen rings tested. Certain trends are consistent from ring to ring such as the previously discussed initial torque decrease and the additional noise seen in the friction torque response when the seal is operating in a starved condition. From test to test, however, variations are seen in the details of the response of each seal as the lubricant moves through the interface. While reverse pumping during an oil drop test, the friction torque response of some seals exhibits a positive slope or increase, some display a slight decrease, and others have a level friction torque response with a slight convexity. These variations are dependent on how each shaft surface and microcavities (if applicable) work with the developed elastomeric asperities to move the oil in, out, and through the interface. As the lubricant moves through the interface, the friction torque will decrease and as a result the operating temperature of the seal will also decrease. As the temperature decreases, the viscosity of the oil will increase and tend to increase the friction torque. This continuous interplay between the friction torque, the temperature, and the viscosity is dynamic and at any given instant in time, in any particular interface location, the magnitude of each increase and decrease will vary with those specic conditions. These local variations combine with other inuences to result in the response of the system as measured. One such additional inuence impacting the performance of each ring/test is seal hydrodynamics. Over the course of testing, the lip seals will operate in different lubrication regimes. The polished regions of nickel in the wear track scars indicate that there are periods during seal operation when the elastomer is in contact with the shaft surface. This would be expected during startup when the seal may be operating in the boundary lubrication regime as well

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

as during operation in a starved condition when the seal would be expected to be operating in a mixed lubrication regime. It is assumed that the seals will operate in full hydrodynamic lubrication when pumping, but this may not always be true. When a seal is operating with a forward-pumping pattern, the interface is always lubricated since the seal is continuously pumping oil from the sump to the air side of the seal. However, polished bands of nickel can be seen in the wear track of the forward-pumping shaft surfaces. This indicates that there may be periods of mixed lubrication even when the interface is apparently fully lubricated. Despite these variations, some of which are signicant, the overall operation of each seal is controlled by the cavity pattern on the shaft. This demonstrates the ability of surface textures to dominate both the effects of the naturally forming elastomer asperities and the inherent uncertainty of radial lip seal systems. These results conrm the feasibility of using deterministic microcavities to control and enhance radial lip seal performance.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

This work demonstrates the feasibility of triangular microcavities on a radial lip seal shaft surface to impact various seal performance parameters including lubricant ow direction, pumping rate, and friction torque. The following conclusions can be drawn. 1. The shaft surface texture can be designed to dominate the elastomer pumping of a lip seal and control the direction of the seal leakage. In particular, triangular microcavities oriented in preferential patterns pump the lubricant toward the cavity base; i.e., a triangular pattern oriented with apexes toward the air side of a seal will reverse pump and those oriented to the oil side will forward pump. 2. The experimental results of the previous conclusion were predicted by Impellizzeri (15) using numerical models. This veries the utility of those models for surface design and performance trend prediction. 3. The lubricant pumping rate and therefore the sealing capability of the seal are enhanced by the presence of microcavities. The rates are increased over that of the baseline stainless steel case as well as that of the plain electroplated nickel case when reverse pumping. 4. Microcavities reduce the friction torque of the system when pumping lubricant and in some cases when operating in a starved condition. 5. A reduction in temperature is seen when operating with microcavities on the shaft. 6. Trends between shaft wear and friction torque were seen for seals operating with shaft microcavities. Higher starved friction torque and lower lubricated friction torque is seen with increased wear (larger nal wear track widths). A demonstration of the control of lubrication parameters via the use of deterministic microcavities on the shaft surface of a radial lip seal gives rise to further study considerations such as life tests, seal design, and different applications. With the lower friction torque values and reduced operating temperatures seen with some of the patterns tested, longer seal life would be expected. However, long-term tests up to and possibly exceeding 1000 h

Effect of Shaft Microcavity Patterns

743

Downloaded by [75.149.200.233] at 14:05 27 October 2011

on seals operating with microcavities are necessary to determine the overall impact of the features on seal life. Any benet gained from the use of microcavities would have to be weighed against the detriment of a shorter seal life if the assumed life extension does not occur. This work suggests that current lip seal design may not be optimized for the enhanced pump rates and lubricant ow control exhibited by the microcavities. Therefore, a redesign of the basic lip seal may be needed to fully benet from the inclusion of microfeatures on the shaft surface. Design considerations could include, but are not limited to, changes in the garter spring force and/or the interference t as well as adjustments to the barrel and oil side angles of the elastomer. An evaluation of specic needs and operating conditions in various applications is needed since it could present opportunities for utilizing seals with microfeatures on the shaft surface given current lip seal designs. Installation of a seal that leaks, or forward pumps, could be advantageous in applications where contaminant exclusion is of great importance, such as when protecting grease-lled bearings. The extremely high sealing capability of some of the cavity patterns may be benecial when sealing high-pressure systems. Lastly, an exploration of the use of microcavities in other suitable rotary or reciprocating seals beyond that of the elastomeric radial lip seal should be considered.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Army Research Ofce (grant number DAAD 19-02-1-0198), the Timken Company, the U.S. Department of Education, and Valvoline for their support of and contributions to the project that made this work possible.

REFERENCES
(1) Hirano, F. and Ishiwata, H. (1965-1966), The Lubricating Condition of a Lip Seal, Proc. Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 180, 3B, pp 187-196. (2) Jagger, E.T. (1957), Study of the Lubrication of Synthetic Rubber Rotary Shaft Seals, Proc. Conf. on Lubrication and Wear, Inst. of Mech. Eng., pp 409-415. (3) Kammuller, M. (1986), Zur Abdichtwirkung von Radial-Wellendichtringen, PhD Thesis, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany. (4) Kawahara, Y. and Hirabayashi, H. (1977), A Study of Sealing Phenomena on Oil Seals, ASLE Preprint 77-LC-5B-2.

(5) Muller, H.K. (1987), Concepts of Sealing Mechanism of Rubber Lip Type Rotary Shaft Seals, Proc. 11th Intl. Conf. on Fluid Sealing, BHRA, pp 698-709. (6) Paige, J. and Stephens, L.S. (2004), Surface Characterization and Experimental Design for Testing of a Radial Lip Seal, Tribol. Trans, 47, 3, pp 341-355. (7) Horve, L.A. (1996), Shaft Seals for Dynamic Applications, Marcel Dekker, New York. (8) Gawlinski, M. (2000), Optimal Surface Roughness of the Shafts Cooperating with Oil Lip Seals, Proc. 16th Intl. Conf. on Fluid Sealing, Professional Engineering Publishing Limited, Brugge, Belgium. (9) Anno, J.N., Walowit, J.A. and Allen, C.M. (1968), Microasperity Lubrication, Journal of Lubrication Technology, 90, F, pp 351-355. (10) Otto, D.L. (1974), Triangular Asperities Control Seal Leakage and Lubrication, SAE 740201. (11) Salant, R.F. (1997), Modelling Rotary Lip Seals, Wear, 207, pp 9299. (12) Salant, R.F. and Flaherty, A.L. (1995), Elastohydrodynamic Analysis of Reverse Pumping in Rotary Lip Seals with Microasperities, Journal of Tribology, 117, pp 53-59. (13) Siripuram, R.B. and Stephens, L.S. (2004), Effect of Deterministic Asperity Geometry on Hydrodynamic Lubrication, Journal of Tribology, 126, pp 527-534. (14) Hadinata, P.C. and Stephens, L.S. (2007), Soft Elastohydrodynamic Analysis of Radial Lip Seals with Deterministic Microasperities on the Shaft, Journal of Tribology, 129, 4, 851. (15) Impellizzeri, D.M. (2006), Model Development and Investigation of Micro-Deterministic Asperity Features/Textures Using the JakobssonFloberg-Olsson (JFO) Cavitation Condition Modied Reynolds Equation, M.S. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. (16) Paige, J. (2005), Experimental and Theoretical Comparison of Radial Lip Seal Operation, M.S. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. (17) Kortikar, S.N. (2004), Fabrication and Characterization of Deterministic Microasperities on Thrust Surfaces, M.S.Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. (18) Venkatesan, S. (2005), Surface Textures for Enhanced Lubrication: Fabrication and Characterization Techniques, M.S. Thesis, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. (19) Booser, E.R. (1997), Tribology Data Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. (20) Muller, H.K. and Nru, B.S. (1998), Fluid Sealing Technology, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. (21) Jagger, E.T. and Walker, P.S. (1966-1967), Further Studies of the Lubrication of Synthetic Rubber Rotary Shaft Seals, Proc. Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 181, 9, pp 191-204. (22) Salant, R.F. (1997), Rotary Lip Seal Operation with an Ingested Meniscus, Journal of Tribology, 119, pp 205-210.