Anti-wear and vibration-noise control of nitrogen-doped graphene/C60 nano additives

Abstract

Traditional lubricants can no longer meet the demand for vibration and noise reduction performance in industrial production. In order to reduce the vibration and noise caused by friction under heavy load conditions, nitrogen-doped graphene prepared by a bottom-up method is used as an additive. By incorporating nitrogen-doped graphene and C60 nanoparticles into PAO6 lubricant, a highly efficient nano-lubricant with both vibration and noise reduction properties is synthesized. The performance of the nano-lubricant is determined by rotational wear tests, and the obtained wear traces on steel balls and plates are evaluated by 3D depth-of-field microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, and the vibration and noise signals are analyzed using vibration analyzers and digital sound level meters. The coefficient of friction and wear volume of N-doped graphene:C60 (0.4:0.5) can be reduced by 60% and 57%, respectively. Especially, the Z-axis vibration acceleration and noise sound pressure are reduced by 81% and 19%, respectively. The results indicate that the hybrid nanoparticles can directly reduce friction and wear through filling and adsorption. In addition, the slight deformation of the coupled nitrogen-doped graphene/C60 structure can absorb the load and reduce the stress concentration, thus indirectly attenuating the friction-induced vibration and noise.