• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.741-746
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• 2012

The increase of energetic efficiency in plane bearing is getting more important in the transfer mechanism of semi-conductor and display panel manufacturing processes. To accomplish this objective, the technique of surface texturing on bearing surface has recently emerged as one of the most effective candidates. In this study, the effects of various pattern parameters on two bearing performance indices(load carrying capacity and effective friction coefficient) are investigated through a semi-analytic method, i.e., the 2-dimensional Reynolds equation incorporated into the finite difference scheme. Here, cavitation effect is also taken into account by employing an appropriate numerical scheme. In this study, the patterns in the textured surface are composed of a series of semi-spheres or semi-ellipsoids in shape. The effects of their size and number density on the performance indices are examined through the performance of various numerical experiments. Also, the effects of the anisotropy of the semi-ellipsoidal pattern on the bearing's lubrication characteristics are investigated and discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.437-442
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• 2013

In recent times, surface texturing methods have been widely applied to reduce friction and improve the reliability of machine components such as parallel thrust bearings, mechanical face seals, and piston rings. In this study, a numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of uniformly spaced hemispherical dimples on the lubrication characteristics of a slider bearing using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT. The pressure distributions, load capacity, leakage flowrate, and friction force are strongly affected by the dimple diameter and the number of dimples. In particular, the load capacity and friction force decrease linearly with the dimple density whereas the leakage increases. These results can be used for designing the optimum dimple characteristics in order to improve the lubrication performance of slider bearings, for which further studies are required.