Effect of addition of nanoparticles into vegetable oils and evaluation of its tribological properties at elevated temperatures

Sunny Sharma (M100087ME) Under the guidance of Dr. P.K. Rajendra Kumar Abstract: The reduction of friction and wear is critical to the proper functioning of modern machines. Various kinds of lubricating oils are being used for these purpose viz. mineral oils, synthetic oils and vegetable oils. As the cycle time increases, the wear and tear of the machine increases and the main focus is to decrease the wear and friction in the moving mechanical parts. The recent researches concentrate on nanoparticles and their application to many areas including lubrication. The addition of nanoparticles into lubricating oil significantly reduces the friction coefficient and increases the load-bearing capacity of the sliding parts in mechanical systems. The nanoparticles suspended in lubricating oil play the role similar to that of ball bearings between the friction surfaces. As the world's petroleum resources are depleting day by day and also they are posing environmental problems also, there is a need to shift the focus to vegetable oils which are available in plenty and also don't pose environmental problems because of their biodegradability. There are some issues which suppress their use as a lubricant such as low temp stability, but these can be improved by the addition of certain additives. In this project it is tried to evaluate the tribological properties of vegetable oils by adding nanoparticles. Most of the research which has been carried out till now are at room temperature, In this present work it is proposed to conduct experiments at elevated temperatures which simulate conditions in IC Engines.

Literature review:Several published papers describe the benefits of adding nanoparticles into the lubricants, but not so many on the addition of nanoparticles into vegetable oil. Lee et al. [1] explained the basic mechanisms of nanoparticles when they interact with surfaces in presence of lubricant thus decreasing friction and wear. Zhou et al. [2] studied Cu nanoparticles and their tribological properties, Peng, et al. [3] studied the addition of SiO2 particles into the paraffin which is the main lubricant used in the machinery, Sevim & Brajendra [4] studied the stability of the vegetable oils at low temp which is the main issue with these and also studied the oxidation stability at low temperature.

From the literature review it is understood that by adding suitable nanoparticles into the lubricant the friction and wear decreases, and vegetable oil, being replenish able and also biodegradable, work out to be a very good option as a lubricant with nanoparticles added at elevated temperature.

Progress done so far: - The main aim of the project is to conduct the tests at elevated temperature, the setup available in the college is not having the option for increasing the temperature, for that purpose the setup has been fabricated. The pin material being used in the experiment is LM6 and the disc is Chromium plated steel of the dimensions given below.

Fig1 (a). Dimensions of the disc

Fig1 (b). Dimensions of the pin

With the help of the setup, the temperature can be increased up to 100oC and the temperature controller along with thermocouple makes it sure that the temperature stays at the set value. The setup will be insulated from the atmosphere.

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of heating arrangement

As viscosity is a prime concern in the experiment, so the viscosity tests were done for all the oils at different temperatures. The table shows the value of all.
Temp 30 40 50 60 70 80 Paraffin 126.337 82.55097 50.31793 33.11406 25.063 20.99736 Coconut 30.355 20.74735 13.77477 9.162 7.012286 5.485158 Mustard 126.8315 85.27414 60.49777 46.58789 39.11375 31.61

Table 1, Kinematic viscosity for different oils

As we are varying concentration at 3 levels wiz. 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 % volumetric, and temperature at 6 levels between 40-90, and with 3 kinds of oils, So in simple way we were having 54 number of experiments, so to minimize it, Taguchi method is being used. After using Taguchi method, we are getting only 18 as the number of experiments. To determine the coefficient of friction, the tests were done with all the oils without the nanoparticles at 100 RPM, so as to achieve the condition of Boundary lubrication. With nanoparticles at different concentrations in the oils, tests were conducted for all the oils at room temperature.

Work remaining: Tests to be done for all 18 experiments. SEM images to be taken for the specimen pins.

References:[1] Lee,K., Hwang,Y., Cheong,S., Choi,Y., Kwon,L., Lee,J., and Kim,S., Understanding the Role of Nanoparticles in Nano-oil Lubrication , Tribol Lett (2009), pp.127131 [2] Zhou,J., W,Z., Zhang,Z.and Liu,W., Tribological behavior and lubricating mechanism of Cu nanoparticles in oil, Tribology Letters 8 (2000), pp. 213218. .

[3] Peng,D,X., Kang ,Y.,Hwang,R.M.and Shyr,S.S., Chang,Y.P., Tribological properties of diamond and SiO2 nanoparticles added in paraffin, Tribology International 42 (2009), pp 911 917. [4] Erhan, Sharma,B.,and Perez,J., Oxidation and low temperature stability of vegetable oilbased lubricants, Industrial Crops and Products 24 (2006), pp 292299. . [5] Fox,N.J. and Stachowiak,G.W., Vegetable oil-based lubricantsA review of oxidation ,Tribology International 40 (2007), pp 10351046 .

Sunny Sharma

Dr. P.K. Rajendra Kumar