Synergistic low friction effect and mechanism of inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide and talcum at the interface of steel tribo-pairs under severe conditions

Abstract

Poor lubrication can lead to sever wear of mechanical equipment and even cause its failure, nevertheless, lubricating additives are able to effectively alleviate the negative results. In this work, nano-additive lubricants used in the interface of steel tribo-pairs are prepared by inorganic fullerene-like tungsten disulfide and talcum nanoparticles, which can improve the friction-reduction and wear-resistance performances of base lubricant by as much as 25% and 50%, respectively. On the one hand, the macroscopic characterization reveals that the improved tribological performance comes from the synergistic effect of the two nano nanoparticles. On the other hand, the phenomenon has been further explored by molecular dynamics. The macroscopic and microscopic interface interaction mechanism between the nano-additives, investigated in the study, indicate valuable reference for the investigation of improved nano-additive lubricating oil in the future.