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Contact Stress, Frictional Torque and Lubrication in Articulating Pin Joints

Conference Paper · January 2007

DOI: 10.1115/IJTC2007-44230

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 Proceedings of STLE/ASME International Joint Tribology Conference
CONTACT STRESS, FRICTIONAL TORQUE AND LUBRICATION IN ARTICULATING
PIN JOINTS
Contact Stress, Frictional Torque And Lubrication In Articulating Pin Joints
R. S. Dwyer-Joyce, University of Sheffield, UK.
ABSTRACT
Pin joints are used in many items of industrial machinery
where two structural members are required to articulate. A pin
is assembled between typically four bushes. As the members
articulate the pin rotates relatively slowly inside the bushes. A
hydraulic test machine has been developed to load and
articulate a 56 mm diameter pin held in four bushes, typical of
that found in earth moving machinery and aircraft landing gear.
The rig is capable of applying realistic loads and speeds of
articulation, whilst measuring torque and angular displacement.
The test machine design and operation is described.
The pin joint is lubricated with mineral oil based grease.
Joint rotation is relatively slow and hydrodynamic calculations
predict that the joint operates in the boundary regime. During a
single cycle the torque remains largely constant, with a static
friction peak at the beginning and end of the cycle.
Measurements of the torque during articulation demonstrate
friction coefficients varying from 0.02 to 0.12 depending on the
rotational speed.
The contact stress distribution between the pin and
bushes was estimated by an ultrasonic method. An ultrasonic
pulse was sent through the hollow pin and reflected back from
the pin-bush interface. High contact pressures causes
conformity between the pin and bush and so the wave passes
through. The proportion of the sound wave reflected was used
to estimate the contact stress distribution. The results showed
how the stress is maximum in the outer bushes and over a 60°
arc of the pin. The results of the study can be used to
understand how pin joints function and how they may be
optimised.
INTRODUCTION
Pin joints are everywhere in machines. From simple split
pins in mechanical linkages, to heavy load bearing pins in earth
moving equipment or aircraft landing gear. At the heavy duty
IJTC2007
October 22-24, 2007, San Diego, California USA
IJTC2007-44230
A.Beke, University of Sheffield, UK.
end the pin, usually steel, is free to rotate in bushes that are
press fitted or welded into structural components. As the
structural members articulate the pin rotates in the bush and
then returns. The cost of the machine and the loading regime
dictates the design of the pin joint. For example high end joints
in landing gear use hollow corrosion resistant alloy steel pins
rotating inside aluminium bronze bushes with designed
lubrication channels; whilst a mass produced earth mover
might use a solid steel pin in a simple steel bush welded to the
chassis.
The joints usually rotate at relatively slow speed,
compared to a conventional journal bearing. Lubrication is with
a single grease fill that is topped up to a service schedule. Since
a machine may have many pin joints, re-lubrication is costly
and liable to be intermittent. In this project tribological design
of the pin joint assembly has been studied. A purpose built rig
has been used to load and articulate the joint whilst studying
contact stress and frictional torque behaviour.
PIN JOINT FUNCTION TESTER
Figure 1 shows the pin joint test assembly. The apparatus uses a
double fork arrangement (one in blue and the other in yellow).
To simplify analysis of the pin and bush contacts and to turn
and drive the pin, the outer fork bush bearings were replaced
with roller bearings. Therefore for all pin function tests only
the central yellow fork, bush bearing contacts, were tested. A
hydraulic cylinder fits in the space between the outer blue fork
and the inner yellow fork. This is used to apply the lateral load
on the joint (in steps from 0 to 180 kN). The whole assembly
sits on top of a MAYES Torsion/ Tension servo-hydraulic
machine. Only the torsion actuator is used in this case (i.e. the
pin has no axial loading).
To drive and turn the pin during testing, four slots were
wire cut at one end of all test pins. The slots enabled a direct
line axial coupling via a splined interface to the MAYES rig
1 Copyright © 2007 by ASME
torsion drive shaft. The torsional cylinder was driven in
displacement control and the transducer used to record the
driving torque over the cycle. Angular displacement of ±50°
was possible and maximum driving torques of 200 Nm.
Figure 1. Photograph of the pin joint test apparatus.
LUBRICATION
The bearing grooves are fully flooded with amineral
oil based greas. The speed of rotation experienced by the pin
joint is relatively slow compared with a typical journal bearing.
Since the bearing is reciprocating the film drops to zero as the
ends of the stroke and increases to a maximum at the centre of
the articulation. In the experimental work rotational frequencies
were varied from 0.02 to 5 Hz for a range of +/- 50°
corresponding to mean surface speeds in the range 2 mm/s to
500 mm/s.
The geometry of the bearing bushes is such that they can be
treated using the narrow bearing approximation [1] (there are
four bushes divided into two separate bearing surfaces each
with an L/D ratio equal to 0.125). Predicted oil film are
displayed in figure 2 for a selection of bearing speeds.
1.2
5 Hz
Maximum film thickness, microns
0.8
2 Hz
0.6
1 Hz
0.4
0.2 0.1 Hz
0.02 Hz
0
0 10 20
Pin Load, kN
Figure 2. Predicted oil film formation for various pin joint
rotational frequencies and applied loads.
The expected film thickness for normal operation of the pin is
less than 1 micron, which is substantially less than the
combined roughness of the pin and bush surfaces, 7µm.
FRICTIONAL TORQUE
Figure 3 shows a typical torque cycle from the pin when is
loaded at 5kN and articulated at 0.033Hz.
Figure 3. Typical torque cycle from a pin loaded at 5kN.
There is a peak in the torque at the start of each articulation (in
both directions). This is the static friction part and is caused
because the grease has been squeezed out of the contact. The
torque drops during the articulation, reaches a minimum at
around 0°, and then rises again. This demonstrates that the
torque reduces as the joint speed increases. The sliding motion
between pin and bush entrains some grease and generates a thin
grease film. This explains the torque reduction.
The corresponding friction coefficients are ~0.12. This is in the
boundary regime; there is likely to be lots of asperity contact
and only a very thin layer of grease. The curves are virtually
symmetrical as expected. There does seem to be some slight
oscillation on the forward stroke. This is probably some feature
of the machine dynamics. Figure 4 shows a similar series of
cycles at increasing load.
30 40 50
Figure 4 Series of torque cycles at increasing pin lateral load.
Figure 5 and 6 shows the variation in friction coefficient with
applied load and speed. The coefficient is virtually independent
of the load; this suggests that the applied load is not changing
the lubrication regime. The hydrodynamic film calculations
presented in figure 2 indicates that over this load and speed
range the oil film thickness generated varies from 0.03 to
2 Copyright © 2007 by ASME
0.08 µm. This is significantly less than the roughness on the pin
and bush surface. For the whole load range considered in the
test the contact operates in the boundary regime and even at the
lower loads there is no significant film formed. The slight
increase at higher loads suggests that the joint is being pushed
into closer conformity with the bush resulting in an increase in
the contact area and a slight rise in friction.
An increase in pin rotational speed (figure 6) causes the friction
coefficient to reduce as a marginal oil film forms. Above
around 1 Hz no further friction reduction is seen, it is possible
that this is a starvation effect and the grease cannot replenish
the contact as the pin sweeps it out of the contact.
0.14
Figure 7. Location of an ultrasonic transducer in the loaded pin.
0.12

0.10 80.0
Coefficient of Friction

0.08 70.0

5 kN
0.06 20 kN
60.0
40 kN
60 kn Average
0.04

Contact pressure, MPa

50.0

0.02
40.0
0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
30.0
Radial Load, kN

Figure 5. Variation of friction coefficient with applied pin load 20.0

for a joint rotational frequency of 0.033 Hz. 10.0

0.12

0.0
0.10 -90 -75 -60 -45 -30 -15 0 15 30 45 60 75 90
Angle (degrees)
Coefficient of Friction

0.08
Figure 7. Radial pressure distribution axially along the pin.
0.06

0.04
0.02
0.00
0.01 0.1
Articulation frequency, Hz
Figure 6. Variation of friction coefficient with pin rotational
frequency.
CONTACT STRESS
An ultrasonic transducer was passed down through the hollow
pin (figure 7 shows the test schematic). The reflection of the
ultrasonic pulse can be used to estimate the contact stress
between the bush and the pin. For details of the method see [2].
The transducer was scanned radially around a single pin/bush
contact. The tests were repeated for four different loads on the
pin. The pressure distributions are shown as figure 7.
The load is concentrated over an arc of 60 to 80° of the
circumference. The pressure clearly peaks at the position
directly opposite to the application of the load (0°).
CONCLUSIONS
A novel hydraulic pin joint function test machine was designed
and constructed. This loaded and articulated the pin joint in a
controlled manner within the bushes. Hydrodynamic
1 10
calculations have shown that the oil film is thin for normal
operation of the joint and boundary lubrication is expected.
This is supported by torque measurements on the test rig which
indicated friction coefficients in the range 0.02 to 0.12. The
friction was largely independent of load but depended strongly
on speed as more lubricant is entrained into the contact. An
ultrasonic approach has been used to determine the
circumferential stress distribution between the pin and bush.
The load is supported over approximately a 60° arc, regardless
of the applied load. The distribution is closer to parabolic than
uniform within this arc. This data can be used to better design
for the contact loading of the pin and bush.
REFERENCES
[1] Cameron, A (1966), Principles of Lubrication, Longmans,
London.
[2] Dwyer-Joyce, R.S. and Drinkwater, B.W., (2004), “In-Situ
Measurement of Contact Area and Pressure Distribution in
Machine Elements”, Tribology Letters, Vol. 14, pp 41-52

3 Copyright © 2007 by ASME

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