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Correlation Between the Adsorption and the Nanotribological Performance of Fatty Acid-Based Organic Friction Modifiers on Stainless Steel

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Abstract

Surface adsorption of amphiphilic molecules is a vital mechanism of boundary lubrication on stainless steel surfaces. The self-assembly of four fatty acid-based organic friction modifiers in two alkane solvents and their adsorption onto stainless steel surfaces was investigated using Dynamic Light Scattering and Quartz Crystal Balance with Dissipation, respectively. These properties were related to the friction force between a sharp tip and the steel surface measured using Lateral Force Microscopy. The molecular structures of the organic friction modifiers were chosen in order to study the effects of unsaturation and number of alkyl chains as well as the composition of the polar head groups on their assembly in solution, adsorption, and nanotribological behavior. Sorbitan monooleate and dioleate adsorb as monolayers with their alkyl chains either in the upright or tilted configuration, depending on their concentration. If large supramolecular structures were present in the solvent, i.e., for sorbitan monolaurate and glycerol monooleate, micelle adsorption and rearrangement on the surface and multilayer formation took place, respectively. A correlation between the adsorption rate constant and the coefficient of friction of the organic friction modifiers was revealed in these studies, with the coefficient of friction decreasing with an increase in the adsorption rate.

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Scheme 1
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taken from Ref. [32] at the concentration of 0.5 wt% in n-hexadecane. The error bars are occasionally smaller than the marker size, and therefore, not always visible

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by TOTAL MS under TOTAL-UIUC collaboration (Research agreement U15-012 PC15-039). The authors gratefully acknowledge Benoît Thiébaut and Sophie Loehle at Total M&S, Solaize Research Center (CRES), France for the useful discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Zita Zachariah

    Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Max-Planck-Str. 1, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany

  2. Prathima C. Nalam

    Present address: Department of Materials Design and Innovation, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260-5030, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Zita Zachariah, Prathima C. Nalam, Amogha Ravindra, Archana Raju, Anupama Mohanlal, Kaiyu Wang & Rosa M. Espinosa-Marzal

  2. TOTAL MARKETING SERVICES - Centre de Recherche de Solaize - Chemin du Canal, BP 22, 69360, Solaize, France

    R. Veronica Castillo

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Rosa M. Espinosa-Marzal

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Zachariah, Z., Nalam, P.C., Ravindra, A. et al. Correlation Between the Adsorption and the Nanotribological Performance of Fatty Acid-Based Organic Friction Modifiers on Stainless Steel. Tribol Lett 68, 11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-019-1250-z

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