Anti-wear and friction performance of ZrO2 nanoparticles as lubricant additive

The surface of ZrO2 nanoparticles was modified with silane coupling agent KH-560 by dispersing the nanoparticles in 20(#) machine oil The tnbological performance of the 20(#) machine oil with ZrO2 nanopartides was evaluated by a four-ball tester and a thrust-ring machine The loss of the thrust-ring weight was measured by an electronic balance with a precision of 0 0001g The worn surface was examined under a metallographic microscope with 400-times magnification The results showed that the average friction coefficient decreased by 27 34% and that the weight loss of the thrust-ring indicated no wear or negative wear the wear loss after six loads tests being 0 0163 g The anti-wear (AW) and reducing friction (RF) abilities of the oil with ZrO2 nanoparticles addition were considerably improved maximizing at an additive concentration of 0 5 wt% (C) 2010 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering Chinese Academy of Sciences Published by Elsevier B V All rights reserved