Study on Lubricating Performance of the Bubbly Oil Under High Shear Rate—Part 1: Generation Method and Viscosity Measurement of the Bubbly Oil

Abstract

Bubbly oil lubrication is a type of lubrication method which has a high potential for application. However, the lubricating performance of the bubbly oil has not been thoroughly considered. This paper aims to investigate the lubricating performance of the bubbly oil including generation of the bubbly oil, viscosity characteristics of the bubbly oil and the application study of the bubbly oil lubrication. Due to space limitation, the work is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on the generation method of the bubbly oil, observation of the bubbly oil and the measurement of viscosity characteristics under a high shear rate. Part 2 focuses on the application study of the bubbly oil lubrication in high-speed bearing. A generation method for the bubbly oil was proposed by a combination of the dispersed-air method and the pressurized dissolution one. An experiment setup for generating the bubbly oil, an observation system for the bubbly oil and a specially-designed viscometer for the bubbly oil were developed. The research results show that the generation method for the bubbly oil is of high efficiency and stability and the observation system is operational.