Antiwear Behavior of ZDDP and Fluorinated ZDDP in the Presence of Alkylated Diphenyl Amine Antioxidants

Abstract

Environmental regulations have called for a reduction of phosphorus content in engine oils in recent years. The anti-wear additive zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP), which is also an antioxidant, is one of the most important components of engine oil additives. ZDDP is a major source of phosphorus. One way to reduce phosphorus levels is to replace ZDDP with new environmentally friendly antiwear agents that have similar or superior wear performance compared to ZDDP. Another way to address the environmental issue is to reduce the amount of ZDDP in engine oils. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the efficiency of ZDDP by finding optimum conditions that would result in improved antiwear performance. The antiwear mechanism of ZDDP involves its degradation thermally and tribologically, leading to the formation of an antiwear film that consists of polyphosphates and sulphides. The structure of the antiwear film is almost similar in both types of degradation. But the breakdown efficiency of ZDDP is diminished by the parallel reaction of ZDDP with other additives, as well as the antagonistic effects of these additives. The new fluorinated ZDDP complex developed has shown better wear performance compared to ZDDP. This would allow the possibility of further reduction of phosphorus in engine oils compared to current levels. In this paper we study the interaction of ZDDP and fluorinated ZDDP with alkylated diphenylamine. The impact of antioxidant on wear performance was examined using a ball-on-cylinder tribometer. The interactions between ZDDP and the fluorinated ZDDP with the antioxidant were studied using NMR and the surface of the tribofilm was examined using SEM, TEM, and Auger spectroscopy.