Tribological Behavior of Some Candidate Advanced Space Lubricants

Abstract

Performance of a variety of space lubricants was compared under boundary and elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL). The types of fluids studied were naphthenic mineral oil, paraffinic mineral oil, polyalphaolefin, and silahydrocarbon. The silahydrocarbon and the polyalphaolefin lubricants exhibited lower traction under similar conditions. A specific additive package increased the traction of the polyalphaolefin. Volatility characteristics of some of these fluids were also studied.