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Abstract
Lubricants have much importance in several industries, principally serving to reduce friction and wear in mechanical elements. In this study, the influence of Castor oil as bio-lubricant on the friction and wear performance of AISI 4140 steel was investigated. For that purpose, pin-on-disk friction tests were conducted according to ASTM G-99, by using pins of tungsten carbide (WC) as counterparts. The experiments were performed at two different temperatures. This work also presents the Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and 1H-NMR analyses for the chemical characterization of oils and a study of their degradation by oxidation. The analysis of the damage caused to steel due to friction was deepened by analyzing its microhardness and microstructure in the worn zone. As a reference, the same experiments were performed with a commercial oil. The friction behavior of 4140 steel/WC with Castor oil lubrication at the two temperatures was notably better than that obtained under the reference oil lubrication. The kinetic friction coefficient (µk) was up to 76% lower. However, a slight increase in steel wear was observed under Castor oil lubrication. Despite this, these results suggest that Castor oil could be used as bio-lubricant in systems which are susceptible to levels of high friction.
Highlights
Lubricants play a major role in several industries around the world, mainly because they reduce friction and wear on mechanical elements [1]
The other was a commercial oil which, according to the supplier’s information, consists of mineral oil of a certain fraction, chlorinated paraffins, anti-corrosion additives, and synthetic high-pressure additives. This Reference oil is used in manufacturing processes as a lubricant for mechanical elements that work under contact pressure values of around 1000 MPa
It can be seen that the viscosity index (VI) of Castor oil is higher than that of the Reference oil; this means that it has lower variation of viscosity with temperature
Summary
Lubricants play a major role in several industries around the world, mainly because they reduce friction and wear on mechanical elements [1]. There is a growing interest in the use of biodegradable lubricants which are friendly to the environment, renewable, less toxic, and possess superior tribological properties [2,3,4] In addition to their biodegradability and low toxicity, they have excellent lubricity performance, adhere to metal surfaces with ease, possess little volatility and slight viscosity dependence with temperature. They have low oxidation stability and flow properties at low temperatures [4], several studies had been realized to propose the use of vegetable oils as substitutes for commercial mineral or synthetic oils, either pure, with the inclusion of some additives, or even chemically modified.
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