Two industrial examples are described which demonstrate how environmental stress cracking (ESC) can give rise to unexplained, apparently random and catastrophic in-service part failures. In the two case studies, companies could not identify cause of failure through normal quality control procedures. Mild was suspected this project aimed investigate replicate failures in a laboratory setting. Th...

In disk drive technology, lubricant thickness and roughness are important, but often overlooked, contributors to slider–disk spacing. In this paper, we use X-ray reflectivity to measure the thickness and lubricant–air roughness of a perfluoropolyether lubricant (Fomblin Zdol) on silicon wafers and carbon overcoats. For Zdol on smooth silicon, the roughness increases with increasing lubricant th...

Enzyme preparations from Mycobacterium phlei, Escherichia coli and Galium mollugo cell suspension cultures were incubated in the presence of 4-(2'-carboxyphenyl)-4-oxobutyrate (i.e. o-succinylbenzoic acid, OSB, 1), ATP, coenzyme A and Mg2+. The main product isolated from the incubation mixture was 4-(2'-carboxyphenyl)-4-oxobutyryl coenzyme A ester (2) as determined by comparison with synthetic ...

This paper presents a series of structural modifications of epoxidized ricinoleic acid for biolubricant to improve the cold flow behavior and oxidation stability of vegetable oils through measurement of pour point (PP) and oxidation onset temperature (OT) and signal maximum temperature (SMT) of each synthetic compound. The results showed that butyl 10,12-dihydroxy-9-behenoxystearate with bulky ...

+ Clarke, M T; + Lee, P T H; + Rushton, N. + University of Cambridge, England. Introduction Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition of synovial joints involving the destruction of articular hyaline cartilage. In the 1970’s, ‘viscosupplementation’ with hyaluronan was proposed as a potential treatment for OA with the idea that it would improve joint lubrication. However, despite studies s...

Using shear dynamics simulations we investigated the structure and dynamics of hexadecane (n-C 16 H 34) lubricant lms connned between two solid surfaces (Fe 2 O 3) covered with a self-assembled monolayer of wear inhibitors dithiophosphate molecules DTP = S 2 P(OR) 2 with R = iPr, iBu, and Ph]. We found signiicant density oscillations in the lubricant lms, especially near the top and bottom boun...