Simulation of the seepage properties of grease containing nano-C60 in the albronze powder metallurgy

Powder metallurgy (PM) self-lubricating material infiltrated by oil or grease with additives has been widely used in the field of manufacturing, and plays an important role in modern industry. The distribution of fluid field in the PM is an important factor that affects its self-lubricated performance. Therefore, it is necessary to know how the flow characteristics of the fluid are affected in the PM. In this work, CFD simulation is conducted to study the impacts of the inlet shape, applied pressure, porosity and viscosity of grease containing nano-C60 behaved as Bingham rheological properties on the flow characteristics in porous albronze PM with the Herschel-Bulkley model and Abid low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model. Results indicate that seepage velocity increases as pressure, porosity increases and viscosity decreases. Porosity has the greatest effect on seepage velocity, viscosity the second, and the applied pressure the third. Albronze PM with porosity higher than 15% is suitable for seepage.