Abstract
Efficient and sustainable use of water-based lubricants is essential for energy efficiency. Therefore, the use of water-lubricated mechanical systems instead of conventional oil lubricants is extremely attractive from the viewpoint of resource conservation. In this study, water-soluble Cu nanoparticles of size approximately 3 nm were prepared at room temperature (around 25 °C) via in-situ surface modification. The tribological behavior of the as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles as an additive in distilled water was evaluated using a universal micro-tribotester. The results show that the as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles, as a water-based lubricant additive, can significantly improve the tribological properties of distilled water. In particular, the lowest friction coefficient of 0.06 was obtained via lubrication with a concentration of 0.6 wt% of Cu nanoparticles in distilled water, which is a reduction of 80.6% compared with that obtained via lubrication with distilled water alone. It is considered that some Cu nanoparticles entered the contact area of the friction pairs to form a complex lubricating film and prevent direct contact of the friction pairs. Furthermore, some Cu nanoparticles in the solution accelerate the heat transfer process, which also results in good tribological properties.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Find the latest articles, discoveries, and news in related topics.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Gao Y J, Zhang Z J, Xue Q J, Dang H X. Friction and wear behavior of GCr15 steel lubricated with oleic acid-modified TiO2 nanoparticles in aqueous solution. Tribolog 20: 22–25 (2000)
Wang H D, Liu Y H, Chen Z, Wu B B, Xu S L, Luo J B. Layered double hydroxide nanoplatelets with excellent tribological properties under high contact pressure as waterbased lubricant additives. Scientific Reports 2: 22748–22756 (2016)
Yang Y, Zhang C H, Dai Y J, Luo J B. Tribological properties of titanium alloys under lubrication of SEE oil and aqueous solutions. Tribol Int 109: 40–47 (2017)
Tomala A, Karpinska A, Werner W, Olver A, Stori H. Tribological properties of additives for water-based lubricants. Wear 269: 804–810 (2010)
Zhang Z J, Zhang J, Xue Q J. Synthesis and characterization of a molybdenum disulfide nanocluster. J Phys Chem 98: 246–255 (1994)
Rapoporta L, Leshchinskya V, Lapskera I, Volovika Y, Nepomnyashchya O, Lvovsky M, Popovitz-Biro R, Feldman Y, Tenne R. Tribological properties of WS2 nanoparticles under mixed lubrication. Wear 255: 785–793 (2003)
Dai W, Kheireddin B, Gao H, Liang H. Roles of nanoparticles in oil lubrication. Tribol Int 102:88–98 (2016)
Wu H, Zhao J W, Xia W Z, Cheng X W, He A S, Yun J H, Wang L Z, Huang H, Jiao S H, Huang L, Zhang S Q, Jiang Z Y. A study of the tribological behaviour of TiO2 nanoadditive water-based lubricants. Tribol Int 109: 398–408 (2017)
Wang J M, Wang J H, Li C S, Zhao G Q, Wang X B. Tribological performance of poly(sodium 4-styrenesulphonate) as additive in water–glycol hydraulic fluid. Lubr Sci 24: 140–151 (2012)
Kajdas C. Additives for metalworking lubricants–a review. Lubr Sci 1: 385–409 (1989)
Zhang J, Zhang Y J, Zhang S M, Yu L G, Zhang P Y, Zhang Z J. Preparation of water-soluble lanthanum fluoride nanoparticles and evaluation of their tribological properties. Tribol Lett 52: 305–314 (2013)
Zhou J, Yang J, Zhang Z, Liu W, Xue Q. Study on the structure and tribological properties of surface-modified Cu nanoparticles. Mater Res Bull 34: 1361–1367 (1999)
Zhou J, Wu Z, Zhang Z, Liu W, Xue Q. Tribological behavior and lubricating mechanism of Cu nanoparticles in oil. Tribol Lett 8: 213–218 (2000)
Tong M C, Chen W, Sun J, Debraj Ghosh A, Chen S W. Dithiocarbamate-capped silver nanoparticles. J Phys Chem B 110: 19238–19242 (2006)
Vickers M S, Cookson J, Beer P D, Bishop P T, Thiebaut B. Dithiocarbamate ligand stabilised gold nanoparticles. J Mater Chem 16: 209–215 (2006)
Yang G B, Zhang Z M, Zhang S M, Yu L G, Zhang P Y. Synthesis and characterization of highly stable dispersions of copper nanoparticles by a novel one-pot method. Mater Res Bull 48: 1716–1719 (2013)
Yang G B, Chai S T, Xiong X J, Zhang S M, Yu L G, Zhang P Y. Preparation and tribological properties of surface modified Cu nanoparticles. Trans Nonferrous Met Soc China 22: 366–372 (2012)
Wang B G, Song A X, Feng L, Ruan H, Li H G, Dong S L, Hao J C. Tunable amphiphilicity and multifunctional applications of ionic-liquid-modified carbon quantum dots. ACS Appl Mater Inter 7: 6919–6925 (2015)
Wang B G, Tang W W, Lu H S, Huang Z Y. Hydrothermal synthesis of ionic liquid-capped carbon quantum dots with high thermal stability and anion responsiveness. J Mater Sci 50: 5411–5418 (2015)
Yan J, Chen S. Preparation of oil-soluble Cu nanoparticles by a two-phase method. Acta Chim Sinica 65: 2243–2248 (2007)
Christian P, Bromfield M. Preparation of small silver, gold and copper nanoparticles which disperse in both polar and non-polar solvents. J Mater Chem 20: 1135–1139 (2010)
Kapoor S, Palit D K, Mukherjee T. Preparation, characterization and surface modification of Cu metal nanoparticles. Chem Phys Lett 355: 383–387 (2002)
Balogh L, Tomalia D A. Poly(amidoamine) dendrimertemplated nanocomposites synthesis of zero valent copper nanoclusters. J Am Chem Soc 120:7355–7356 (1998)
Brust M, Bard A J, Blass P M. Self-assembly of photoluminescent copper(I)-dithiol multilayer thin films and bulk materials. Langmuir 13: 5602–5607 (1997)
Zhang C L, Zhang S M, Song S Y, Yang G B, Yu L G, Wu Z S, Li X H, Zhang P Y. Preparation and tribological properties of surface-capped copper nanoparticle as a waterbased lubricant additive. Tribol Lett 54: 25–33 (2014)
Ma J Q, Wang X B, Fu X G, Liu W M, Cui R M. Investigation of the tribological properties of oil-soluble Cu nanoparticles as additive in CD 15W/40 diesel engine oil. Tribology 24: 134–138 (2004)
Aarnink W A M, Weishaupt A, Silfhout A V. Angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) and a modified levenberg-marquardt fit procedure: a new combination for modeling thin layers. Appl Surf Sci 45: 37–48 (1990)
Mothes R, Petzold H, Jakob A, Rüffer T, Lang H. Dithiocarbamate copper(I) and silver(I) complexes: synthesis, structure and thermal behavior. Inorg Chim Acta 429: 227–236 (2015)
Wen J, Li J, Liu S J, Chen Q Y. Preparation of copper nanoparticles in a water/oleic acid mixed solvent via two-step reduction method. Colloid Surface A 373: 29–35 (2011)
Singh S K, Kumar V, Drew M G B, Singh N. Syntheses, crystal structures and photoluminescent properties of new heteroleptic Ni(II) and Pd(II) complexes of ferrocene functionalized dithiocarbamate-and dipyrromethene ligands. Inorg Chem Commun 37: 151–154 (2013)
Yin H D, Zhang R F, Ma C L. Study on tribenzyltin dithiocarbamic acid complexes by IR spectroscopy. Chinese Journal of Spectroscopy Laboratory (5): 10–13 (1998)
Qun M N, Yao Y L, Hen J M, Ma X R, Liu S S, Feng J, Hou L G. Tribological performance of functionalized ionic liquid and Cu microparticles as lubricating additives in sunflower seed oil. Tribol Int 104: 166–174 (2016)
Gulzar M, Masjuki H H, Kalamn M A, Varman M, Zulkifli N W M, Mufti R A, Zahid R. Tribological performance of nanoparticles as lubricating oil additives. J Nanopart Res 18: 223–247 (2016)
Wang H, Wang Y M. Tribological performance of AlN nanoparticles as lubricating oil additive. J Nanopart Res 366: 238–242 (2012)
Wu L L, Zhang Y J, Yang G B, Zhang S M, Yu L G, Zhang P Y. Tribological properties of oleic acid-modified zinc oxide nanoparticles as the lubricant additive in poly-alpha olefin and diisooctylsebacate base oils. RSC Adv 6: 69836–69844 (2016)
Xu Y H, Yang G B, Zhang S M, Zhang P Y, Zhang Z J. Preparation of water-soluble copper nanoparticles and evaluation of their tribological properties. Tribology 32: 165–170 (2012)
Hsieh C C, Liu W R. Synthesis and characterization of nitrogen-doped grapheme nanosheets/copper composite film for thermal dissipation. Carbon 118: 1–7 (2017)
Lin Z Z, Huang C L, Zhen W K, Huang Z. Enhanced thermal conductivity of metallic nanoparticle packed bed by sintering treatment. Appl Therm Eng 119: 425–429 (2017)
Shahmohamadia H, Rahmania R, Rahnejata H, Garnera C P, Balodimosc N. Thermohydrodynamics of lubricant flow with carbon nanoparticles in tribological contacts. Tribol Int 113: 50–57 (2017)
Yang G B, Wu Z S, Zhang P Y. Study on the tribological behaviors of polyelectrolyte multilayers containing copper hydroxide nanoparticles. Tribol Lett 25: 55–60 (2007)
Hamrock B J, Dowson D. Isothermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication of point contacts: Part III—fully flooded results. Lubr Technol 99: 264–276 (1977)
Liu Y H, Xin L, Zhang Y J, Chen Y F, Zhang S M. The effect of Ni nanoparticles on the lubrication of a DLC-based solid–liquid synergetic system in all lubrication regimes. Tribol Lett 65: 31 (2017)
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (project of “973” Plan, grant No. 2013CB632303) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 51405132, 21671053 and 51605143).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Pingyu ZHANG. He is a professor and director of the Engineering Research Center for Nanomaterials in Henan University. He received his PhD degree from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2000. His current research interests cover nanoparticle lubricant additives, high performance lubricants and functional materials, and the tribology of materials. He has published over 100 journal papers and gained a number of ministerial and provincial-level science and technology awards.
Guangbin YANG. He received his Ph.D. degree in condensed matter physics in 2011 from Henan University. Now he is an associate professor at Henan University. His research areas cover the nanotribology, the lubricants and nano-additives. He has published more than 50 journal papers and possesses 2 ministerial and provincial-level science and technology awards.
Junhua ZHAO. She received her bachelor degree in inorganic nonmetal material engineering in 2015 from North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China. After then, she is a master graduate student in the Engineering Research Center for Nanomaterials, Henan University, Kaifeng, China. Her research interests are focused on preparation and tribological properties investigation of water-based lubricating additives.
Electronic supplementary material
40544_2018_209_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Synthesis of water-soluble Cu nanoparticles and evaluation of their tribological properties and thermal conductivity as a water-based additive
Rights and permissions
Open Access : The articles published in this journal are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author (s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, J., Yang, G., Zhang, C. et al. Synthesis of water-soluble Cu nanoparticles and evaluation of their tribological properties and thermal conductivity as a water-based additive. Friction 7, 246–259 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-018-0209-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-018-0209-7