Investigation the tribological characteristics of castor oil with mineral oil blends

Abstract

Vegetable oil can be a possible substitute for petroleum-based products for many applications and is the focus of research in this study. Besides being a renewable energy resources with instant and perpetual availability, vegetable oil based products can also have the potential for reducing carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emission, when used in such applications as lubricant in internal combustion engines and in industrial processes. In this paper, the impact of mixing mineral oil at certain proportions with vegetable oil is discussed its use as commercial lubrication oil is also outlined, The tribological attributes are investigated through the well known four ball tribotester method. In the experiments, castor oil is blended at volumetric ratio ranging from 20 to 80 % with commercial mineral oil, where the setup is consictent with ASTM D4172. Results indicate that a mix of castor oil with commercial lubrication oil rather than mineral oil, can bring down the diameter of wear scar. The mix exhibits a decrease in the coefficient of friction when compared with lubrication oil. A belend of castor oil with some commercial lubricant oil has shown a better tribological performance as compared to neat castor oil.