ASTM D2625 Test Method for Endurance (Wear) Life and Load-Carrying Capacity of Solid Film Lubricants (Falex Pin and Vee Method)
10. Procedure A
10.1 Insert the solid film coated vee blocks in the recesses of the load jaws.
10.2 Mount the solid film coated pin in the test shaft and insert a new brass shear pin as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.
10.3 Swing the arms inward so that the vee blocks contact the test pin in such a way that the vee grooves are aligned with the pin's major axis as shown in Fig. 2. Check this alignment visually. Place the automatic loading mechanism with attached load gage on the load arms and turn the ratched wheel by hand until the test parts are securely seated, indicated by a slight upward movement of the load gage needle. At this point the torque gage should read zero or be adjusted to read zero.
10.4 Start the motor and engage the automatic loading ratchet until a gage load of 300 lbf (1330 N) is reached (approximately 265 lbf (1170 N) on the direct-reading gage). Remove the load applying arm and continue running (at 290 +/- 10 r/min) for 3 min, then increase the load to 500 lbf (2220 N) (approximately 410 lbf (1820 N) on the direct-reading gage) using the load applying arm, and run for 1 min.
10.5 Increase load to 750 lbf (3330 N) (590 lbf (2620 N) on the direct-reading gage) and run for 1 min. Then increase the load to 1000 lbf (4450 N) (765 lbf (3400 N) on the direct-reading gage). Maintain this load and measure the time until failure. Load should be maintained by taking up on the rachet wheel as necessary. The total time until failure shall not include the 3-min run-in.
10.6 Failure is indicated by a torque rise of 10 in.•lbf (1.13 N•m) above the steady-state value, or breakage of the shear pin. The test shall be continued until one of the above failure criteria is attained. If the optional automatic cutoff, torque recorder, and timer (6.1.2) is used, set the cutoff point to 10 in.•lbf (1.13 N•m) above the initial steady state torque. When this preset torque is reached, the machine will shut off and the time of test may be read from the torque recorder tracer (Fig. 5).
10.7 Four runs shall constitute a test.
11. Procedure B
11.1 Repeat the cleaning and set-up procedures outlined in Section 8 and 10.1-10.3.
11.2 Start the motor and engage the automatic loading ratchet until a gage load of 300 lbf (1330 N) (approximately 265 lbf (1170 N) on the direct-reading gage) is reached. Remove the load applying arm and continue running (at 290 +/- 10 r/min) for 3 min. Then increase the load to 500 lbf (2220 N) (approximately 410 lbf (1820 N) on the direct-reading gage) using the load applying arm and run for 1 min.
11.3 Continue to apply load in increments of 250 lbf (1110 N) (corresponding loads on the direct-reading gages may be taken from the curve in Fig. 3) using 1-min runs at each load until the maximum range of the load gage is reached, or until failure occurs.
11.4 Failure is indicated by the inability of the lubricating film to maintain the load for 1 min, breakage of the shear pin, breakage of the test pin, or a sharp increase in torque (10 in.•lbf (1.13 N•m) or more) over the gradual increase accompanying the increase in load.
11.5 Conduct four tests. Report load-carrying capacity as the last gage load that sustained a 1-min load before failure.
