On the effect of enduring contact on the flow and thermal characteristics in powder lubrication

The effect of the enduring contact and the true temperature are investigated for a granular lubricant sheared between two parallel plates. The appropriate equations are derived including both the enduring contact as well as the inelastic collision between the granules. The characteristics of the flow are investigated in a 'transitional regime' where both kinetic-collision effect and enduring contact exist concurrently. The results of this paper reveal that the effect of enduring contact between granules is very important and must be considered especially at low operating speeds and when dealing with high solid volume fractions, which is typically the case when dealing with granular lubrication. Moreover, the enduring contact shows a definite effect on the true temperature.