The reduction of the power loss generated in mechanical transmissions and the use of low friction biodegradable lubricants has been attracting considerable attention in recent times. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods to test and evaluate the performance of such lubricants and compare them with conventional ones.In this sense, a Four‐Ball Machine was modified allowing the test of rolling bearings. A 51107 thrust ball bearing was used to test two different greases and the corresponding base oils. Friction torque and operating temperatures were continuously monitored to quantify the power loss and the heat evacuation for each lubricant tested. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The urgent need for drastic reduction in emissions due to global warming demands a radical energy transition in transportation. The role of biofuels is fundamental to bridging the current situation towards a clean and sustainable future. In passenger cars, the use of ethanol fuel reduces gas emissions (CO₂ and other harmful gases), but can bring tribological challenges to the engine. This review addresses the current state-of-the-art on the effects of ethanol fuel on friction, lubrication, and wear in car engines, and identifies knowledge gaps and trends in lubricants for ethanol-fuelled engines. This review shows that ethanol affects friction and wear in many ways, for example, by reducing lubricant viscosity, which on the one hand can reduce shear losses under full film lubrication, but on the other can increase asperity contact under mixed lubrication. Therefore, ethanol can either reduce or increase engine friction depending on the driving conditions, engine temperature, amount of diluted ethanol in the lubricant, lubricant type, etc. Ethanol increases corrosion and affects tribocorrosion, with significant effects on engine wear. Moreover, ethanol strongly interacts with the lubricant’s additives, affecting friction and wear under boundary lubrication conditions. Regarding the anti-wear additive ZDDP, ethanol leads to thinner tribofilms with modified chemical structure, in particular shorter phosphates and increased amount of iron sulphides and oxides, thereby reducing their anti-wear protection. Tribofilms formed from Mo-DTC friction modifier are affected as well, compromising the formation of low-friction MoS₂ tribofilms; however, ethanol is beneficial for the tribological behaviour of organic friction modifiers. Although the oil industry has implemented small changes in oil formulation to ensure the proper operation of ethanol-fuelled engines, there is a lack of research aiming to optimize lubricant formulation to maximize ethanol-fuelled engine performance. The findings of this review should shed light towards improved oil formulation as well as on the selection of materials and surface engineering techniques to mitigate the most pressing problems.

Several film thickness measurements were performed with three fresh and aged lubricating greases, their base and bled oils under a wide range of operating conditions using a ball-on-disc test rig with optical interferometry. The analysis of the film thickness measurements is in agreement with the observations of several authors and adds some important aspects regarding separate film properties in EHL contacts. At full film lubrication and moderate to high speeds, the bled oil showed a similar behavior of its lubricating greases. At fully-flooded condition, low speeds and thin films, it was observed that the thickener lumps play a major role on film formation, overcoming the bled oil effects. A relationship between thickener type and film formation was evidenced. The same trends were observed under starved lubrication, where the thickener type that contributes the most to locally increase the film thickness follows the order of PP > Ca > Li. The aging process of the greases was shown to change their rheological response in different manners—softening or hardening—depending on the grease formulation. Grease aging increased the film thickness under fully-flooded and starved lubrication, regardless of the level of degradation.