Abstract
CeO2 nanoparticles are potential anti-wear additives because of their outstanding anti-wear and load-bearing capacity. However, the shear-sintering tribo-film formation mechanism of oxide nanoparticles limits the tribo-film formation rate and thickness greatly. In this study, by compounding with zinc dioctyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP), ultra-fine CeO2 nanoparticles modified with oleylamine (OM) can quickly form 2 µm ultra-thick tribo-film, which is 10–15 times thicker than that of ZDDP and CeO2, respectively. The ultra-thick tribo-film presents a nanocomposite structure with amorphous phosphate as binder and nano-CeO2 as filling phase, which leads to the highest loading capacity of composite additives. The results of adsorption experiments tested by dissipative quartz crystal microbalance (QCM-D) showed that the PB value of additive has nothing to do with its equilibrium adsorption mass, but is directly proportional to its adsorption rate in 10 s. The compound additive of CeO2 and ZDDP presented the co-deposition mode of ZDDP monolayer rigid adsorption and CeO2 viscoelastic adsorption on the metal surface, which showed the highest adsorption rate in 10 s. It is found that the tribo-film must have high film forming rate and wear resistance at the same time in order to achieve super thickness. Cerium phosphate was formed from ZDDP and CeO2 through tribochemistry reaction, which promotes the formation of an ultra-thick tribo-film with nanocomposite structure, which not only maintains the low friction characteristics of CeO2, but also realizes high PB and high load-carrying capacity.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bhaumik S, Maggirwar R, Datta S, Pathak S D. Analyses of anti-wear and extreme pressure properties of castor oil with zinc oxide nano friction modifiers. Appl Surf Sci 449: 277–286 (2018)
Verma D, Kumar B, Kavita, Rastogi R B. Zinc oxide- and magnesium-doped zinc oxide-decorated nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide as friction and wear modifiers. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 11(2): 2418–2430 (2019)
Chen G Y, Zhao J, Chen K, Liu S Y, Zhang M Y, He Y Y, Luo J B. Ultrastable lubricating properties of robust self-repairing tribofilms enabled by in situ-assembled polydopamine nanoparticles. Langmuir 36(4): 852–861 (2020)
Liu C X, Friedman O, Meng Y G, Tian Y, Golan Y. CuS nanoparticle additives for enhanced ester lubricant performance. ACS Appl Nano Mater 1(12): 7060–7065 (2018)
Liu C X, Friedman O, Li Y Z, Li S W, Tian Y, Golan Y, Meng Y G. Electric response of CuS nanoparticle lubricant additives: The effect of crystalline and amorphous octadecylamine surfactant capping layers. Langmuir 35(48): 15825–15833 (2019)
Kumara C, Leonard D N, Meyer H M, Luo H M, Armstrong B L, Qu J. Palladium nanoparticle-enabled ultrathick tribofilm with unique composition. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10(37): 31804–31812 (2018)
Khare H, Lahouij I, Jackson A, Feng G, Chen Z Y, Cooper G D, Carpick R W. Nanoscale generation of robust solid films from liquid-dispersed nanoparticles via in situ atomic force microscopy: Growth kinetics and nanomechanical properties. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10(46): 40335–40347 (2018)
Zhao J, Mao J Y, Li Y R, He Y Y, Luo J B. Friction-induced nano-structural evolution of graphene as a lubrication additive. Appl Surf Sci 434: 21–27 (2018)
Wang B G, Tang W W, Lu H S, Huang Z Y. Ionic liquid capped carbon dots as a high-performance friction-reducing and antiwear additive for poly(ethylene glycol). J Mater Chem A 4(19): 7257–7265 (2016)
Shi J, Wang Y F, Gong Z B, Zhang B, Wang C B, Zhang J Y. Nanocrystalline graphite formed at fullerene-like carbon film frictional interface. Adv Mater Interfaces 4(8): 1601113 (2017)
Guo W, Zhou Y, Sang X H, Leonard D N, Qu J, Poplawsky J D. Atom probe tomography unveils formation mechanisms of wear-protective tribofilms by ZDDP, ionic liquid, and their combination. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9(27): 23152–23163 (2017)
Mosey N J, Müser M H, Woo T K. Molecular mechanisms for the functionality of lubricant additives. Science 307(5715): 1612–1615 (2005)
Gosvami N N, Bares J A, Mangolini F, Konicek A R, Yablon D G, Carpick R W. Mechanisms of antiwear tribofilm growth revealed in situ by single-asperity sliding contacts. Science 348(6230): 102–106 (2015)
Guo Z Q, Zhang Y J, Wang J C, Gao C P, Zhang S M, Zhang P Y, Zhang Z J. Interactions of Cu nanoparticles with conventional lubricant additives on tribological performance and some physicochemical properties of an ester base oil. Tribol Int 141: 105941 (2020)
Aldana P U, Vacher B, Mogne T, Belin M, Thiebaut B, Dassenoy F. Action mechanism of WS2 nanoparticles with ZDDP additive in boundary lubrication regime. Tribol Lett 56(2): 249–258 (2014)
Wu H X, Qin L G, Zeng Q F, Dong G N. Understanding the physical adsorption action mechanism of MoS2 nanoparticles in boundary lubrication with different polyisobutyleneamine succinimide (PIBS) concentrations. Tribol Lett 60(2): 26 (2015)
Wu L L, Lei X, Zhang Y J, Zhang S M, Yang G B, Zhang P Y. The tribological mechanism of cerium oxide nanoparticles as lubricant additive of poly-alpha olefin. Tribol Lett 68(4): 101 (2020)
Cui M, Duan Y H, Ma Y Y, Al-Shwafy K W A, Liu Y D, Zhao X D, Huang R L, Qi W, He Z M, Su R X. Real-time QCM-D monitoring of the adsorption—desorption of expansin on lignin. Langmuir 36(16): 4503–4510 (2020)
Meléndrez D, Jowitt T, Iliut M, Verre A F, Goodwin S, Vijayaraghavan A. Adsorption and binding dynamics of graphene-supported phospholipid membranes using the QCM-D technique. Nanoscale 10(5): 2555–2567 (2018)
Zhang J, Spikes H. On the mechanism of ZDDP antiwear film formation. Tribol Lett 63(2): 24 (2016)
Spikes H. The history and mechanisms of ZDDP. Tribol Lett 17(3): 469–489 (2004)
Jiang Z Q, Zhang Y J, Yang G B, Gao C P, Yu L G, Zhang S M, Zhang P Y. Synthesis of oil-soluble WS2 nanosheets under mild condition and study of their effect on tribological properties of poly-alpha olefin under evaluated temperatures. Tribol Int 138: 68–78 (2019)
Kato H, Komai K. Tribofilm formation and mild wear by tribo-sintering of nanometer-sized oxide particles on rubbing steel surfaces. Wear 262(1–2): 36–41 (2007)
Dawczyk J, Ware E, Ardakani M, Russo J, Spikes H. Use of FIB to study ZDDP tribofilms. Tribol Lett 66(4): 1–8 (2018)
Nicholls M A, Do T, Norton P R, Kasrai M, Bancroft G M. Review of the lubrication of metallic surfaces by zinc dialkyldithiophosphates. Tribol Int 38(1): 15–39 (2005)
Hu Y, Jin J, Han Y Y, Yin J H, Jiang W, Liang H J. Study of fibrinogen adsorption on poly(ethylene glycol)-modified surfaces using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation and a dual polarization interferometry. RSC Adv 4(15): 7716 (2014)
Thavorn J, Hamon J J, Kitiyanan B, Striolo A, Grady B P. Competitive surfactant adsorption of AOT and TWEEN 20 on gold measured using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation. Langmuir 30(37): 11031–11039 (2014)
Zhang J, Meng Y G, Tian Y, Zhang X J. Effect of concentration and addition of ions on the adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate on stainless steel surface in aqueous solutions. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Aspects 484: 408–415 (2015)
Shen T J, Wang D X, Yun J, Liu Q L, Liu X H, Peng Z X. Tribological properties and tribochemical analysis of nanocerium oxide and sulfurized isobutene in titanium complex grease. Tribol Int 93: 332–346 (2016)
Topolovec-Miklozic K, Forbus T R, Spikes H A. Film thickness and roughness of ZDDP antiwear films. Tribol Lett 26(2): 161–171 (2007)
Hu J J, Li H, Li J L, Yan C Q, Kong J, Wu Q J, Xiong D S. Super-hard and tough Ta1−xWxCy films deposited by magnetron sputtering. Surf Coat Technol 400: 126207 (2020)
Marchin N, Ashrafizadeh F. Effect of carbon addition on tribological performance of TiSiN coatings produced by cathodic arc physical vapour deposition. Surf Coat Technol 407: 126781 (2021)
Zhang R F, Veprek S. Phase stabilities of self-organized nc-TiN/a-Si3N4 nanocomposites and of Ti1−xSixNy solid solutions studied by ab initio calculation and thermodynamic modeling. Thin Solid Films 516(8): 2264–2275 (2008)
Veprek S, Zhang R F, Veprek-Heijman M G J, Sheng S H, Argon A S. Superhard nanocomposites: Origin of hardness enhancement, properties and applications. Surf Coat Technol 204(12–13): 1898–1906 (2010)
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51875172 and 51775168), Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Henan Province Universities (No. 19IRTSTHN024), and Zhongyuan Science and Technology Innovation Leadership Program (No. 214200510024).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Xue LEI. She received her master degree in Engineering Research Center for Nanomaterials in 2021 from Henan University, Kaifeng, China. Her research interests include preparation of nano additives and the synergistic mechanism between nano additives and engine oil additives.
Yujuan ZHANG. She received her Ph.D. degree in the State key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2005. She joined the National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Applied Technology of Hybrid Nanomaterials at Henan University from 2001. Her current position is a professor. Her research areas cover the tribology of solid lubricating coatings, large-scale production and industrial application of nano additives.
Shengmao ZHANG. He received his Ph.D. degree in the State key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2005. He joined the National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Applied Technology of Hybrid Nanomaterials at Henan University from 2001. His current position is a professor. His research areas cover the large-scale production and industrial application of nano materials.
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Lei, X., Zhang, Y., Zhang, S. et al. Study on the mechanism of rapid formation of ultra-thick tribofilm by CeO2 nano additive and ZDDP. Friction 11, 48–63 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0571-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0571-8