Experimental analysis of the efficacy of vegetable oil-based nanolubricants for improving journal-bearing performance

Abstract

The present experimental study explores the performance of Hydrodynamic journal bearings operating with vegetable oil-based nanolubricants. For this study, titanium oxide nanoparticles have been added to canola oil by varying the volume fraction from 0% to 0.04%. An assessment of performance characteristics has been done by using a journal-bearing test rig under different operating conditions. The outcome of the experimental results aimed at the addition of nanoparticles to base lubricants to improve the performance was observed to be favorable. However, under high operating conditions, the influence of nanoparticles is observed to be less useful. The fluid film pressure of nanolubricants increased up to a specific volume concentration of titanium oxide nanoparticles (i.e. 0.02%) beyond which no further enhancement was observed. At a load of 3000 N, the fluid film pressure increased up to 10%, when a bearing is lubricated using canola oil with a 0.02% volume fraction of nanoparticles. The heat transfer rate was found to be higher for nanolubricants in comparison to a base oil and the fluid film temperature was reduced by up to 15% at a volume fraction of 0.04%. Furthermore, rheological studies reveal that the prepared nanolubricants exhibited Newtonian behavior under the given conditions. The percentage increment of viscosity varied from 2.1% to 15.4% and 2.43% to 13.89% for a volume fraction ranging from 0.01% to 0.04% at a temperature of 40 °C and 100 °C, respectively. The dynamic light scattering results confirmed that the particles were well distributed in a base lubricant without much aggregation.