• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.864-869
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• 2013

As the size of mechanical components decreases, capillary forces and surface tension become increasingly significant. A major problem in maintaining high reliability of these small components is that of large frictional forces due to capillary action and surface tension. Unlike the situation with macro-scale systems, liquid lubrication cannot be used to reduce friction of micro-scale components because of the excessive capillary and drag forces. In this work, the feasibility of using evaporation to coat a thin film of organic lubricant on a solid surface was investigated with the aim of reducing friction. Petroleum and silicone oils were used as lubricants to coat a silicon substrate. It was found that friction could be significantly reduced and, furthermore, that the effectiveness of this method was strongly dependent on the coating conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.451-457
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• 2014

Surface roughness of mechanical components is an important factor which affects the tribological phenomena. Various surface patterns have been applied to surfaces to improve the tribological characteristics of mechanical components. In this work, the friction reduction effect of micropatterns on silicon was investigated. For this purpose, micro-dimple patterns were fabricated on silicon wafer by DRIE process. In the friction experiments silicone oil was used as lubricant. Also, the lubricant was cleaned to simulate a lubricant depleted condition. In depleted lubricated condition, friction coefficient of micro-pattern specimens was lower than specimens without micro-patterns. It was found that friction reduction effect of micro-pattern could be successfully maintained even after cleaning the lubricant on the surface.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.365-370
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• 2020

Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been applied to various industries such as automotive, aviation, medical, and electronics. Most prior studies are limited to the mechanical properties of printed materials, and few studies are being conducted on their tribological characteristics. However, the friction and wear characteristics of the material should be studied in order to utilize the components manufactured using AM technology as mechanical parts. In this study, the friction and wear characteristics of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)-like resin printed with stereo lithography apparatus (SLA) 3D printing are evaluated according to the viscosity of silicon oil lubricant using a ball-on-disk experiment. Lubricants with a viscosity of 500, 1000, and 2000 cSt are prepared for the experiment. If silicon oil lubricants are used during the ball-on-disk test, the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rates are significantly reduced, and the higher the viscosity of the lubricant, the lower will be the COF and wear rates. It is also verified that the temperature of the specimen owing to friction also decreases according to the viscosity of the lubricant. This is because of the silicon oil film thickness, and the higher the viscosity of the lubricant, the thicker will be the oil film. More studies on the tribological characteristics of 3D printing materials and suitable lubricants will be required to use 3D printed parts as mechanical elements.