Friction Force Measurement at Windscreen Wiper/Glass Contact

Abstract

In the present study, a novel windscreen wiperon-cylinder machine has been used to investigate the influence of sliding speed and normal force on the coefficient of friction. Using this machine it is possible to measure the friction force not only on specimen level, as in former studies to be available in the literature, but also on structural level by considering the whole windscreen wiper. As measurement results are strongly influenced by both the real, non-circular cross-section, and the eccentricity of the rotating glass cylinder an analytical model has been developed to explain the measurement results. The good agreement to be found between theory and experiment confirms the validity of the model. Majority of the results belongs to partial contact where the wiper blade is not in contact with the glass countersurface along its total length. After the discussion of experimental results, as a last step, authors made an attempt to compare quantitatively the predictive capability of two different contact models widely used in mixed friction model of sliding rubber components. The results show that the difference in film thickness due to solid-solid contact can be larger than three orders of magnitude in case of a typical windscreen wiper.

Existence of a tribo-modified surface layer of BR/S-SBR elastomers reinforced with silica or carbon black

“…Various industrial applications, such as tires, rubber seals, wiper blades, conveyor belts and syringes, require detailed knowledge about rubber friction [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Although great interest has been kindled by studying the tribological behavior of rubber sliding contacts over the last 50 years, the friction problem is not yet fully understood.…”

Theory of viscoelastic lubrication

“…It involves contact mechanics between rough surfaces, and polymer dynamics of compliant bodies, and it occurs in a remarkably wide range of applications such as tire-road contact [1], rubber sealing [2,3] and wiper blades contacts [4], in the mechanics of biological interfaces [5,6] and, consequently, of bio-inspired (e.g. adhesives [7]) and bio-medical devices (e.g.…”

Tribological behavior of short-cut aramid fiber reinforced SBR elastomers: the effect of fiber orientation

“…Elastomeric materials are used in a wide range of applications, such as tires [1], wiper blades [2] and conveyor belts [3]. Sliding friction often occurs in these applications, which is a major source of frictional losses and wear.…”