Nanocomposites and nanomaterials

Lowering micro scale boric acid additives to nano scale for tribological purposes
Ekinci Ş.1
1 Mechanical Engineering Department, Selcuk University, Konya-42003, Turkey.
E-mail: sekinci@selcuk.edu.tr

Abstract: A lot of investigations have been conducted for the aim of improving machinery lubricant oil performance, additive materials have been added and tested in order to tribological properties of base oils. Nano particles such as various metals, carbon materials, organic materials and rare earth elements have been started to be added into lubricants, by the advancement of nano technology, recently. Boric acid is an effective lubricant and leads to very small friction coefficient. In a previous work of our own, boric acid in micro scale that was added into base oil was investigated in respect of its effects on wear rate and surface roughness for different temperatures; and it was seen that boric acid addition provides advantage only for a limited temperature interval for wear strength and friction coefficient. Numerous reports state that lowering size of boric acid particles leads to better friction behavior. It was tried to determine tribological performance by lowering micro scale to nano scale by surveyed other works. It is seen that lowering size of boric acid to nano scale increases surface roughness of cutting tools. It also leads to higher cutting forces and tool temperatures. The reason is thought to be the surface adhesion effects since micro scale boric acid particles can hold on to surface while nano scale diffuses into the oil mass.
Keywords: Boric acid, lubricant, nano, oil, tribology