Standardization News

A new ASTM standard will be useful to slide and engine companies, as well as makers of bushing materials, in studies that involve the measurement of system friction forces.

The new standard G203, Guide for Determining Friction Energy Dissipation in Reciprocating Tribosystems, was developed by Subcommittee G02.50 on Friction, part of ASTM International Committee G02 on Wear and Erosion.

Kenneth Budinski, Bud Labs, and a G02 member, says that the guide will be useful in testing because a single number can be used to describe the friction behavior of a reciprocating tribosystem and that number will include all of the system responses. The result is a greater discrimination in comparing the friction behaviors of candidate tribosystems.

"Advances in data acquisition systems allow great latitude in sampling and recording friction forces in friction and wear tests, and it has become common practice to integrate the force history in a given test as a measure of energy expended in overcoming friction," says Budinski. "Traditional techniques for monitoring friction use averages and miss the short-term force excursions."

Subcommittee G02.50 invites all interested parties to participate in its standards developing activities. G02.50 is currently seeking participants for a study on the rolling friction of automobiles using a modification of G194, Test Method for Measuring Rolling Friction Characteristics of a Spherical Shape on a Flat Horizontal Plane.

"We believe that controlled tire/roadway friction can reduce worldwide use of gasoline by 10 percent with no change in driving habits or vehicle design," says Budinski.

CONTACT Technical Information: Kenneth Budinski, Bud Labs • Rochester, N.Y. • Phone: 585-225-6529 • E-mail: kenbudinski@hotmail.com O ASTM Staff: Kathleen McClung • Phone: 610-832-9717 • E-mail: kmcclung@astm.org O Upcoming Meeting: Dec. 8-9 • In conjunction with ASTM Committees D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants, D03 on Gaseous Fuels and E48 on Biotechnology • Jacksonville, Fla.