Study On Tribological Properties Of Water-based Lubricants With Polyethoxylate Ether Added

The application of mineral oil-based lubricant has been greetly restricted due to the wordwide energy shortage and environmental pollution. Therefore, the water-based lubricant has attracted more and more attentions due to its outstanding advantages, such as resourceful, convenient for storage and transportation, incombustile, nontoxic and pollution-free. However, because of the low surface tension, viscosity and viscosity-pressure coefficient, water can't be used as lubricant directly. As a solutuion, additives are offen added into the water to improve its lubricating performance.In this study, several water-soluble polyethoxylate ethers were added in the water to improve its lubricating behavior. The rheological properties, the film forming characteristics, the friction-reducing, the anti-wear and the extreme pressure properties for metallic frictional pairs were systematically investigated by using kinds of measuring instruments, such as the lubrication film thickness measuring instrument, the rheometer, the universal micro-tribotester and the four-ball friction tester. The lubricating and wear mechanisms were analyzed by the surface profilometer, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The main research work in this thesis is summarized below:(1) The basic tribological properties of water were investigated, including the film forming characteristics, friction-reducing and anti-wear properties for steel-aluminum and steel-steel frictional pairs.(2) The rheological properties of the polyethoxylate ether aqueous solutions were researched, including the effects of concentration and temperature on the viscosity of the solutions.(3) The film forming characteristics of the polyethoxylate ether aqueous solutions were studied. The influences of the ways of solutions supply, solution concentration and temperature on the film forming characteristics were investigated.(4) The friction-reducing and anti-wear properties of the polyethoxylate ether aqueous solutions for steel-aluminum and steel-steel friction pairs were investigated, including the effect of the load and the concentration on the lubricating performance at low load, as well as the impact of the concentration and the speed on the anti-wear and extreme pressure properties at high load.Fifty-two figures, ten tables, eighty-seven references.