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New insight into tribofilm composition and structure of iron polyphosphate-rich tribofilm from formulated engine oil by ToF-SIMS

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

This research aims to track the chemical composition and fine structure of tribofilm, primarily considering sulfur- and phosphorus-related compounds in response to different applied loads and temperatures on the boundary lubrication regime, where the commercially formulated engine oil was adopted as lubricant. The results clearly reveal the formation of iron polyphosphate-rich tribofilm preferentially on the moving cast-iron surfaces, with increasing amount of FeS2/FeS2xOx species along with heavier load and higher temperature. Nevertheless, FeS2/FeS2xOx species gradually decrease rather than as the intermediate layer or increasingly concentrate on the substrate surface, which is greatly different from the previously reported tribofilm primarily consisting of zinc/iron polyphosphate and sulfide mixtures. More detailed information regarding how sulfur- and phosphorus-related species distribute spatially across the whole tribofilm thickness was given by ToF-SIMS technique.

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Data availability

The data are available upon request from the corresponding authors.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support from the Doctoral Research Startup Foundation of Lanzhou College of Arts and Sciences (No. 2020-03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Lanzhou University of Arts and Science, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Yana Xia & Shuxia Zhang

  2. College of Career Technology, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China

    Zaizhou Wang & Chunxiang Zhang

Authors
  1. Yana Xia
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  2. Shuxia Zhang
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  3. Zaizhou Wang
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  4. Chunxiang Zhang
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Contributions

Yana Xia proposed the research investigation, analyzed data and drafted manuscript. Shuxia Zhang did the ToF-SIMS analysis. Zaizhou Wang and Chunxiang Zhang conducted manuscript revision. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yana Xia or Zaizhou Wang.

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Xia, Y., Zhang, S., Wang, Z. et al. New insight into tribofilm composition and structure of iron polyphosphate-rich tribofilm from formulated engine oil by ToF-SIMS. J Mater Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09723-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09723-0

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