There is growing interest in reducing friction in lubricated machine components to thereby increase the energy efficiency of machines. One important way to minimise friction is to employ friction modifier additives to reduce friction in thin film boundary lubrication conditions. There are currently three main types of friction modifier additive, organic friction modifiers, oil soluble organomolybdenum friction modifiers and functionalised polymers. In common practice, a single such additive is generally employed in a formulated lubricant, but it is of interest to explore whether combinations of two friction modifier additives may prove beneficial. In this study, the performance of eight commercial friction modifier additives spanning all three main types was first measured in three quite different friction tests. The aim was to identify the contact conditions under which each additive was most effective. Additive solutions in both a base oil and a formulated engine oil were investigated. In general, functionalised polymers were most beneficial in sliding-rolling contacts, while oil soluble organomolybdenum friction modifiers worked best in severe, reciprocating sliding conditions. However, all friction modifier additive response was strongly affected by the other additives present in formulated engine oils. The friction performance of combinations of friction modifier additives was then explored. When two different friction modifiers additives were combined in solution, several possible outcomes were observed. The most common was for one of the additives to predominate, to give friction that was characteristic of that additive alone, while in some cases friction lay between the values produced by either additive on its own. In a few cases the additives behaved antagonistically so that the combination gave higher friction than either additive by itself. In a few cases true synergy was observed, where a combination of two additives produced lower friction in a given test that either individual component at the same overall concentration. Another, and possibly more important synergy could also occur, however, when a pair of FMs worked more effectively than either individual additive over the range of test conditions present in different friction tests. This study suggests that optimal combinations of FMs may provide a means of reducing boundary friction and thus increasing the efficiency of machines, especially if the latter contain a range of lubricated machine components that operate with different types of tribological contacts.
Due to incomplete combustion, high levels of soot can accumulate in engine lubricants between drain intervals. This soot can promote wear of engine parts such as timing chains and cam followers. One standard approach to reducing wear is to increase the hardness of the rubbing components used. According to the Archard wear equation, wear rate should be broadly inversely proportional to hardness. To explore this approach for controlling soot wear, wear tests have been conducted in a High Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR) with HFRR steel discs of various hardness against a hard steel ball. Carbon black (soot surrogate) dispersions in model lubricants based on solutions of ZDDP and dispersant in GTL base oils have been studied. Wear volumes have been measured and wear scars and tribofilms analysed using scanning white light interferometry and SEM-EDS. It is found that, while most oils show wear that reduces with increasing hardness, for blends that contain both ZDDP and carbon black, wear rate markedly increases with disc hardness as the latter approaches the hardness of the ball. The results support the prevalence of a corrosive-abrasive wear mechanism when carbon black and ZDDP are both present in a lubricant and suggests that selection of very hard surfaces may not be a useful way to control soot
Diesel engines and gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines both produce soot due to incomplete combustion of the fuel and some enters the lubricant where it accumulates between drain intervals, promoting wear of rubbing engine components. Currently the most favoured mechanism for this wear is that the anti-wear additives present in engine oils, primarily zinc dialkyldithiophosphates (ZDDPs), react very rapidly with rubbing surfaces to form relatively soft reaction products. These are easily abraded by soot, resulting in a corrosive-abrasive wear mechanism. This study has explored the impact of engine oil dispersant additives on this type of wear using combinations of dispersant, ZDDP and carbon black, a soot surrogate. It has been found that both the concentration and type of dispersant are critical in influencing wear. With most dispersants studied, wear becomes very high over an intermediate dispersant concentration range of ca 0.1-0.4 wt% N, with both lower and higher dispersant levels showing much less wear. However a few dispersants appear able to suppress high wear by ZDDP and carbon black over the whole concentration range. A series of experiments have been carried out to determine the origin of this behaviour and it is believed that high levels of dispersant, and, for a few dispersants, all concentration levels, protect the iron sulphide tribofilm initially formed by ZDDP from abrasion by carbon black.
A chemical method for separating diesel engine piston deposits into various organic and inorganic components is described. The components are subsequently analyzed by infrared spectroscopy. The method is illustrated with examples of deposits removed from the upper lands and upper ring grooves of pistons taken from heavy-duty diesel engine tests. Subtle chemical differences were observed between two deposits removed from upper lands of pistons taken from diesel engine tests which had been carried out with the use of lubricating oils with different formulations. More obvious differences were found between the deposits taken from the upper land areas and the upper ring grooves. These results indicate that a combined chemical and spectroscopic approach has the potential to provide detailed chemical information about engine deposits.
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