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A study on the tribological characteristics of graphite nano lubricants

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Abstract

Many researchers have tried to improve the tribological characteristics of lubricants to decrease friction coefficients and wear rates. One approach is simply the use of additives in the base lubricant to change its properties. Recently, nanoparticles have emerged as a new kind of additive because of their size, shape and other properties. A nano lubricant is a new kind of engineering lubricant made of nanoparticles, dispersant, and base lubricant. In this study, graphite nanoparticles were used to fabricate nano lubricants with enhanced tribological properties and lubrication characteristics. The base lubricant used was industrial gear oil, which has a kinematic viscosity of 220 cSt at 40°C. To investigate the physical and tribological properties of nano lubricants, friction coefficients and temperatures were measured by a disk-on-disk tribotester. The surfaces of the fixed plates were observed by a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope to analyze the characteristics of the friction surfaces. The results show that when comparing fixed plates coated with raw and nano lubricants, the plate coated with a nano lubricant containing graphite nanoparticles had a lower friction coefficient and less wear. These results indicate that graphite nanoparticle additives improve the lubrication properties of regular lubricants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon2-dong, Keumjung-gu, Pusan, South Korea, 609-735

    Chang-Gun Lee, Yu-Jin Hwang, Young-Min Choi & Jae-Keun Lee

  2. Advanced Materials Research Group, Korea Electric Power Research Institute, 103-16, Munji Dong, Yuseong Gu, Daejeon, South Korea, 305-380

    Cheol Choi & Je-Myung Oh

Authors
  1. Chang-Gun Lee
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  2. Yu-Jin Hwang
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  3. Young-Min Choi
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  4. Jae-Keun Lee
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  5. Cheol Choi
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  6. Je-Myung Oh
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Correspondence to Jae-Keun Lee.

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Lee, CG., Hwang, YJ., Choi, YM. et al. A study on the tribological characteristics of graphite nano lubricants. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 10, 85–90 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-009-0013-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-009-0013-4

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