Abstract
Although much has been learned and investigated about environmentally friendly lubricants in recent years, several issues remain critical to their use in specific applications. A key point that could be limiting their utilization is that the effect of green lubricants on the tribological and mechanical properties of the elements has not been thoroughly studied since such attributes determine their performance in industrial applications. For this reason, in this research, the effect of green lubrication on the tribological and hardness properties of AISI 4140 steel was studied. The performance of three bio-based lubricants was studied and compared to that of five of the most representative lubricants. First, the lubricants were chemically and physically characterized. Then, the effect of each lubricant on the friction and wear behavior of the system was analyzed by kinetic friction coefficient, wear rate calculations, and microhardness measurements. In general, the bio-based lubricants exhibited the lowest values of friction and wear. Further the mechanical properties of the systems lubricated by these lubricants were not affected or were affected to a lesser degree.
Highlights
The study and development of efficient and effective lubricants continue to be a focus for scientists, industries, and governments, since lubricants are substances that remain between surfaces in relative motion, mainly to reduce friction and wear [1,2,3,4,5]
It can be noted that the first five lubricants enclose the main types of lubricants utilized in general applications, while the last three include two of the main green lubricant formulations and one of the most advantageous vegetable oils for lubricant purposes in its pure form: castor oil
Seawater was obtained by dissolving an artificial salt mixture similar in composition to the dissolved salts in ocean water (S9883, Sigma-Aldrich) in deionized water at a concentration of 40 g/L
Summary
The study and development of efficient and effective lubricants continue to be a focus for scientists, industries, and governments, since lubricants are substances that remain between surfaces in relative motion, mainly to reduce friction and wear [1,2,3,4,5]. In this study, the effect that green lubrication has on the tribological and hardness properties of a mechanical system was investigated. For this purpose, three bio-based lubricants were studied, two of them using vegetable oil bases and mineral oil fractions and synthetic esters, and one using neat vegetable oil (Castor oil). Al2 O3 is one of the most versatile hard ceramics and exhibits good strength, low thermal expansion, and high wear resistance [15] Both materials are employed as tribological components in several industries, ranging from aerospace to automotive [14,15]. 4140/Al2 O3 system was analyzed by the kinetic friction coefficient, wear rate, and micro-indentations of the hardness on the worn area
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