The Influence of Solid Additives on the Tribological Properties of Lubricants

Abstract

The present work investigates the tribological properties of solid particles as lubricant additives in lubricants. Two types of solid particles, Ceria nanoparticles (CeO2) and Zinc borate ultrafine powders (ZB UFPs), were used as the lubricant additives in this study. The friction and wear behaviours of these lubricant additives in different base lubricants were identified. With an appropriate application of these solid lubricant additives, the friction reduction and wear resistance properties of the lubricant have been successfully improved. Without assistance of surfactant or surface modification, the two types of solid particles behave very differently. Evident performance was observed that pure ZB UFPs were capable of considerably reducing the friction coefficient of sunflower oil and liquid paraffin when they were used as a lubricant additive without further treatment. On the contrary, CeO2 nanoparticles did not show noticeable contribution to friction reduction when they were used as the only additive in water. Only when surfactant Sorbitan monostearate was employed to enhance the dispersibility of CeO2 nanoparticles in water, the application of this additive was capable of reducing friction coefficient of the water based lubricant effectively. Surface modification of the solid particles was carried out to improve the dispersibility of these particles in base lubricants. Oleic acid (OA) and Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMOS) were selected as the modification agents. Modified CeO2 nanoparticles and ZB UFPs revealed outstanding wear resistance property. An improvement of up to 15 times was identified although this improvement on wear resistance, in this case, was often companied by a rise in friction coefficient. Tribo-films generated by tribo-chemical reaction were observed on most of the worn surfaces and the formation of this tribo-film appeared to have played an important role in the friction and wear behaviours of a system. A tenacious tribo-film with good surface coverage was only generated on the worn surface when HDTMOS modified solid particles were used as lubricant additives. The mechanical properties and elemental composition of the tribo-film were studied with nano-indentation and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Finally, based on the experimental evidence, different functionalities of CeO2 nanoparticles and ZB UFPs as solid lubricant additives were recognized.