Abstract
Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been considered as novel and economic alternatives to traditional lubricants because of their similar physicochemical performance. In this study, choline chloride (ChCl) DESs were successfully synthesized via hydrogen-bonding networks of urea and thiourea as the hydrogen bond donors (HBDs). The as-synthesized ChCl-urea and ChCl-thiourea DESs had excellent thermal stability and displayed good lubrication between steel/steel tribo-pairs. The friction coefficient and wear rate of ChCl-thiourea DES were 50.1% and 80.6%, respectively, lower than those of ChCl-urea DES for GCr15/45 steel tribo-pairs. However, for GCr15/Q45 steel, ChCl-urea DES decreased the wear rate by 85.0% in comparison to ChCl-thiourea DES. Under ChCl-thiourea DES lubrication, the tribo-chemical reaction film composed of FeS formed at the interfaces and contributed to low friction and wear. However, under high von Mises stress, the film could not be stably retained and serious wear was obtained through direct contact of friction pairs. This illustrated that the evolution of the tribo-chemical reaction film was responsible for the anti-friction and anti-wear properties of the DESs.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51805455), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2019YFG0306 and 2019YFSY0012), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2682020CX04). We also thank the technical support provided by “Ceshigo Research Service Agency for DSC analysis, www.ceshigo.com” and Analytical and Testing Center of Southwest Jiaotong University for supporting the SEM measurements.
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Yuting LI. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, China. Her research interests include the design of lubricating materials and tribological properties of novel deep eutectic solvents.
Yuan LI. He is studying for his Ph.D. degree in Southwest Jiaotong University, China. He received his B.S. degree in 2020 from Hunan University of Science and Technology, China. His research field mainly includes the solid—liquid phase transition of deep eutectic solvent in friction process.
Hao LI. He is currently an instructor at Southwest Jiaotong Unversity, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2016. He received his B.S. degree in 2011 from Lanzhou University. His research interests cover the solid lubricating coatings and the related tribological properties.
Xiaoqiang FAN. He is currently an associate professor at Southwest Jiaotong Unversity, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2016. He received his B.S. degree in 2011 from Qingdao University of Science & Technology, China. His research focuses on the lubricating materials, corrosion protection, and engineering applications. He has published over 50 papers in international journals.
Han YAN. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Southwest Jiaotong University, China. He received his B.S. degree in 2016 from Chengdu University of Technology, China His research focuses on the corrosion and tribology fields.
Meng CAI. He received his B.S. degree from Southwest University of Science and Technology, China, in 2018. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include the design of anticorrosion materials for epoxy resin and tribological properties of composite epoxy resin coatings.
Xiaojun XU. He is currently an associate professor at Southwest Jiaotong Unversity, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, in 2016. His main research interests include the microstructure and properties of high-performance metal materials and service performance of materials.
Minhao ZHU. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan, China, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. In 2001, he received his Ph.D. degree from Southwest Jiaotong University, China. His current position is a professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering in Southwest Jiaotong University, China. His research areas cover the fretting wear, fretting fatigue, surface engineering and design of fastener connection. He has published over 200 papers in international journals such as Carbon, Tribology International, Surface & Coatings Technology, Tribology Letters, and Wear and Friction.
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Li, Y., Li, Y., Li, H. et al. Insights into the tribological behavior of choline chloride—urea and choline chloride—thiourea deep eutectic solvents. Friction 11, 76–92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0575-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0575-4