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An experimental study and mechanism analysis on improving dispersion stability performance of Al2O3 nanoparticles in base synthetic oil under various mixing conditions

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Abstract

The main goal of this study is to improve the dispersion stability of Al2O3 nanoparticles in polyalphaolefin oil to overcome the sedimentation problem of nanoparticles using the addition of oleic acid as a surfactant. Based on the previous single or insufficient research on the preparation conditions of nanolubricating oil, the effects of temperature, ultrasonic duration, ultrasonic power, and nanoparticle/surfactant (oleic acid) concentration on the dispersion stability of Al2O3 nanoparticles (size range of about 50nm) in oil-based solutions were systematically and comprehensively studied in this work. Herein, the preparation conditions were optimized and the stable nanofluids were obtained. The visual observation, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis were used to evaluate the dispersion stability of the Al2O3 nanoparticles. Moreover, the dispersion state of Al2O3 in PAO6 solution was demonstrated through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) at a microscopic level, and the mechanism of dispersion stability was analyzed. The results reveal that the thermal method during the synthesis of nanofluids using 50°C temperature improves the dispersion of nanoparticles. The results also exhibited that there is an optimal match between the ultrasonication power and the ultrasonication duration during the synthesis of nanofluids, which affects its dispersion stability. The results showed that 0.4%wt% oleic acid was needed for the nanolubricants containing 0.005wt% and 0.01wt% to achieve excellent dispersion stability, and the stabilization time exceeds 160 days.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support by the Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components (Wuhan University of Technology). We also express our sincere appreciation to those anonymous reviewers and editors for their meaningful and favorable advice.

Funding

The authors would like to express their deep appreciation to the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Project No. 51875423) and Innovative Research Team Development Program of Ministry of Education of China (IRT_17R83) and 111 Project (B17034) for the research work. Haijun Liu acknowledges financial support from the Ordos Institute of Technology (KYZD2020004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xianjun Hou, Haijun Liu, Hua Jiang & Zekun Tian

  2. Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xianjun Hou, Haijun Liu, Hua Jiang & Zekun Tian

  3. Hubei Research Center for New Energy & Intelligent Connected Vehicle, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xianjun Hou, Haijun Liu, Hua Jiang & Zekun Tian

  4. School of Mechanical and Traffic Engineering, Ordos Institute of Technology, Ordos, 017000, China

    Haijun Liu & Xiaoxue Li

  5. Automotive and Tractors Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, El-Minia, 61519, Egypt

    Mohamed Kamal Ahmed Ali

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  1. Xianjun Hou
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  2. Haijun Liu
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  3. Xiaoxue Li
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  4. Hua Jiang
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Correspondence to Haijun Liu.

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Hou, X., Liu, H., Li, X. et al. An experimental study and mechanism analysis on improving dispersion stability performance of Al2O3 nanoparticles in base synthetic oil under various mixing conditions. J Nanopart Res 23, 86 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-021-05186-5

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