Evaluation of Tribotechnical Characteristics for Tribosystems in the Presence of Fullerenes in the Lubricant
Viktor Vojtov, Андрій Кравцов, Bohdan Tsymbal
Abstract
Experimental studies on tribotechnical characteristics of lubricants with fullerene compositions are presented. It has been shown that a reasonable concentration of fullerene additive is represented by 0.75 g of fullerenes and 99.25 g of vegetable oleic oil as a solvent for fullerenes, as well as the further addition of this composition to 1 kg of the base oil, which amounts to 10% as expressed in the volume concentration. Results confirming that fullerene additives improve the antiwear properties of base lubricants by 26.6% are presented. Simultaneously, the range of the lubricant operation with the use of antiwear additives increases by 40.9%. Fullerene additives have no effect on the antiwelding properties of the base lubricant. The use of fullerene additives most efficiently reduces the friction coefficient (by 32.4–86%), as compared to the 20–25% decrease in wear rate. Experimental studies have shown that the line towards reducing the bulk wear rate and the friction coefficient by increasing fullerene additive concentration over 100 g/kg should be considered as inefficient.