Thermal Transport and Physical Characteristics of Silver-Reinforced Biodegradable Nanolubricant

Abstract

In this investigation, the thermal transport behavior of biodegradable lubricant reinforced with silver nanostructures (AgNs) at various filler fractions of 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20 weight percent was evaluated over a temperature scan analysis, ranging from room temperature up to 60 °C. The experimental results revealed significant gradual enhancements in thermal conductivity as AgNs concentration and evaluating temperatures were increased. These improvements showed the important role of nanostructures’ interaction within the biodegradable lubricant. The thermal conductivity performance improved for nanolubricants ranging from 6.5% at 30 °C and 0.20 wt.% AgNs content up to a maximum 32.2%, which was obtained at 60 °C with 0.20 wt.% AgNs concentration. On the other hand, the thermal stability of reinforced lubricants was assessed through thermogravimetric kinetics analyses. The predictive curves resulting from the analyses indicated that there is an enhancement in both the onset temperature for decomposition and the percentage conversion under isothermal conditions for lubricants reinforced with AgNs. Specifically, the results show that the required temperature to achieve a 5% conversion is 100 °C higher than that calculated for bare lubricant. Moreover, the predictive analyses indicate that there is a delay in the decomposition time at isothermal conditions.