Evaluation of tribological characteristics of liquid lubricants with fullerene additives

Abstract

The paper presents experimental studies of the tribological characteristics of liquid lubricants of various viscosity classes and various groups of operation when using fullerene additives. Tribological characteristics were evaluated on a four-ball friction machine according to GOST 9490. Assessment was subject to: wear rate and critical load, which characterize the anti-wear properties of the lubricant, as well as welding load and bully index, which characterize an anti-bully properties of the material. It is shown that the improvement of the wear index for all oils begins with the concentration 0,2 % masses, fullerenes in the lubricant and does not exceed the values 11,1 … 15 %. At a fullerene concentration less than 0,2 % masses, no positive effect is observed. Positive effect 11,8 … 17,4 % characteristic of the indicator – critical load that characterizes the range of performance of anti-wear additives. At the same time, an increase in the critical load begins with concentration 0,1 % masses, fullerenes in a lubricant and manifests itself most effectively at a concentration 0,2 % masses. Changes in the magnitude of the welding load during the experiments were not recorded, this allows us to conclude, that the addition of a finely dispersed fullerene powder in a liquid lubricant does not improve anti-bully properties, but is only an anti-wear additive. It is shown that the way to improve the tribological properties of lubricants by introducing a finely dispersed powder of fullerenes in base technical oils is ineffective. It is necessary to develop other, more technological methods and methods for introducing fullerene additives into technical lubricants.