• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.275-280
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• 2011

Automotive wheel bearing grease helps to reduce stresses and prevent wear of wheel bearings. But it is easily contaminated by water and other contaminants. In this study, we investigated the property change of automotive wheel bearing grease under water contamination. The result showed that some properties such as dropping point, work penetration and oxidation stability were not influenced by water content. However, most of properties such as work stability, water washout characteristics, leakage tendency, oil separation, evaporation loss and rust protection became worse after water was added. This is thought that added water makes the interaction weak between thickener and base oil of grease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.111-116
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• 2004

Li-complex and urea type greases (each 10 species) which were furnished by Chang-Am LS, analyzed anti-wear performance into fretting wear tester & four-bail wear tester. from the results of fretting wear test, the wear volume of Li-complex greases are $4.6\~8.9mg\;and\;8.3\~14.4mg$ with the test of urea greases. The anti-wear performance for 4-ball wear test of greases produced results around 0.5mm at the value of WSD. The grease life performance were evaluated by SKF-ROF Grease Tester and wheel bearing life tester. From the results of SKF-ROF tester, the life performance evaluated by whole working time produced results $50\~300hr$ with the Li-complex greases and 100-1000hr with the urea greases. That is to say, in spite of severe condition at the higher of $10^{\circ}C$ reaction temp, the life performance with Urea type greases are much superior to Li-complex type greases. Prior to wheel bearing life tester, the grease selected performance evaluation(=anti-wear test) are tested by wheel bearing tester. In this results, we can confirm results those are similar with SKF-ROF tester. In this study, we can draw two major conclusions, one is that Li-complex greases are superior to urea greases with anti-wear properties and the other is that urea greases are much superior to Li-complex greases with life performance.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2012

Automotive wheel bearing grease helps to reduce stresses and prevent wear of wheel bearings. But it is easily contaminated by water and other contaminants. Previously, our research group reported the change of grease physical properties such as dropping point, work penetration and oxidation work stability, water washout characteristics, leakage tendency, oil separation, evaporation loss and rust protection by water contamination. In this paper, we analyzed the physical characteristics of grease such as lubricity, viscosity and total acid number to investigate the mechanism of thickener decomposition. In water contaminated grease, the total acid number and wear scar were increased, the viscosity was decreased due to the decomposition of lithium complex thickener.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.84-90
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• 2010

This paper presents the shape optimization process for the automotive wheel bearing seal lip using the finite element method and the response surface method. First, to predict performance of the bearing seal lip, we used the non-linear finite element analysis. And then, we compared the analysis results with the test results to verify the finite element model. The objective function in optimizing process was obtained from results of the mud slurry test, which is one of many tests for evaluating performance of wheel bearing. After the mud slurry test for the four models which have the similar cross-sectional shape, we measured the wear area of the seal lip and the moisture content in grease. The objective function has been chosen by comparing the results of mud slurry test and characteristics of seal lip, such as contact force, contact area, contact pressure, and interference. Finally, within limited design parameters, we suggested the optimized shape of seal lip, which is expected to improve the wear and the sealing effect of it.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.10-16
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• 2007

A rubber seal for wheel bearing which has been mainly applied to car wheel supporting device is required to have both high sealing performance and drag torque. Because of severe operational conditions like infiltration of mud or splashed water, the importance of rubber seal which is aimed for leakage prevention of grease and effective blocking of foreign substances has been increasing continuously. The sealing performance of this seal depends on several factors such as materials of seal, friction conditions of contact regions and geometry of seals and so on. We have focused on the effects of geometric characteristics such as the angle of main lip, interference between lip edge and inner metallic ring. In this study, the optimization of geometric variables was performed using the finite element analysis. For the sake of finite element analysis, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted and several constants for Mooney-Rivlin's equation were obtained. According to the results of this study, mock-up bearing was made. To verify this study, drag torque and mud spray test were preformed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.267-273
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• 2019

Wheel bearings are important automotive parts that bear the vehicle weight and translate rotation motion; in addition, their seals are components that prevent grease leakage and foreign material from entering from the outside of the bearings. Recently, as the need for electric vehicles and eco-friendly vehicles has been emerging, the reduction in fuel consumption and $CO_2$ emissions are becoming the most important issues for automobile manufacturers. In the case of wheel bearings, seals are a key part of drag torque. In this study, we investigate the prediction of the drag torque taking into consideration the hyperelastic and viscoelastic material properties of automotive wheel bearing seals. Numerical analysis based on the finite element method is conducted for the deformation analyses of the seals. To improve the reliability of the rubber seal analysis, three types of rubber material properties are considered, and analysis is conducted using the hyperelastic material properties. Viscoelastic material property tests are also conducted. Deformation analysis considering the hyperelastic and viscoelastic material properties is performed, and the effects of the viscoelastic material properties are compared with the results obtained by the consideration of the hyperelastic material properties. As a result of these analyses, the drag torque is 0.29 Nm when the hyperelastic characteristics are taken into account, and the drag torque is 0.27 Nm when both the hyperelastic and viscoelastic characteristics are taken into account. Therefore, it is determined that the analysis considering both hyperelastic and viscoelastic characteristics must be performed because of its reliability in predicting the drag torque of the rubber seals.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.397-402
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• 2013

This study examined the tribological characteristics of the drive shaft and axle system in vehicles. The first drive shaft example contained end play for a CV joint that transferred part of the transmission power to the wheel. The joint part of the drive shaft was deformed because of reduced durability due to wear. Thus, vibrations caused the body to shake and become unbalanced when the drive shaft transferred the power. The second example was the cross-section of a shaft that connected the slip-connection of the propeller shaft on the input side to the yoke flange of the output side; the durability was reduced because of corrosion. End play caused by wear between the bearing and cross-section shaft appeared to cause shaking. In the third example, a grease leak reduced lubrication and thus caused damage to the hub bearing and inside the knuckle. The failure was produced by sticking. The fourth example had noise produced by the gear and gear transfer. This was due to the backlash of the pinion and few ring gears for the differential gear. Therefore, drive shaft and axle systems must be thoroughly checked and managed to minimize and reduce failure phenomena.