Description

The TE 33 Engine Tribometer is a two-station, vertical axis, long stroke reciprocating tribometer, which combines the reciprocating drive mechanism from the TE 77 High Frequency Friction Machine with the specimen tooling of the DN 55 High Temperature Dry Sliding & Fretting Test Machine.
The test assembly is located vertically above the reciprocating drive assembly and comprises two fixed specimen arms supported on flexural pivot bearings, which are in turn mounted on linear flexure assemblies. Motion in a vertical direction is restrained by piezo force transducers. As each arm reacts against its own independent transducer, the friction between the each moving specimen and each fixed specimen is monitored independently. This allows two different material pairs to be tested simultaneously under identical conditions of load and temperature.

Load is applied to either side of the moving specimens by squeezing the two fixed specimen arms together by means of a servo controlled pneumatic bellows assembly, with force transducer feedback. This arrangement ensures that there is no bending moment acting on the moving specimen carrier.

Tooling Options

Various tooling options are available in addition to conventional point, line and area contact configurations. Current options include valve stem and valve guide fixtures, and piston ring against cylinder liner. In this latter configuration, a complete piston ring is loaded against a segment of cylinder liner and means are provided for closing the ring gap and for tilting the ring relative to the liner, thus facilitating conformity and alignment.

Test Assembly Heating Options

Various specimen assembly heating arrangements are available, including:

An electrically heated furnace for tests with standard specimen tooling and valve stem/guide tooling at temperatures up to 1000°C.

A hot air gun heated enclosure for tests with standard specimen tooling and piston ring/liner tooling and with drip feed lubrication at temperatures up to 250°C.

A gas fired enclosure for tests with standard specimen tooling and piston ring/liner tooling and with drip feed lubrication at temperatures up to 400°C.

Control and Data Acquisition

Control and data acquisition are implemented via host PC running COMPEND 2020 Windows compatible software, in conjunction with a Phoenix Tribology USB micro-controller interface.
Automatic control is implemented via user programmable test sequences. Manual control is implemented using on screen toggles. Data is stored to hard disc in either .csv or .tsv file formats.