The Collapse of Sliding Micro-EHL Films by Plastic Extrusion

In the mixed lubrication regime, where surface roughness may exceed the elastohydrodynamic film thickness, sliding micro-ehl films appear to collapse during their passage through the contact. A possible explanation for this can be found if the film is treated as a plastic solid. In this work, the collapse velocity is found by simultaneously solving the plastic extrusion equations and the elastic pressure equations for the film trapped between approaching asperities. The velocity of collapse is shown to be very sensitive to the asperity wavelength, slide-roll ratio, and the velocity profile between the sliding asperities.