Enhancing the Wear Preventive Characteristics of Lubricating Oils by Nano-copper

Among the various types of additives, Anti-Wear (AW) and Friction Modifiers (FM) additives are used in the formulation of a wide range of lubricants. The AW and FM additives react easily with the metal surfaces to form a protective film (also referred as boundary film), which can reduce friction and protect the metal surface from wear [1].Nanotechnology is granted as the most promising technology of the twenty-first century. It can also affect lubrication technology. The problem of efficiency assurance is very good identified and intensively examined in the field of lubricating oils and especially engine oils. Motor oil must reduce friction within the engine, which in turn reduces energy to drag and allows more energy to reach the drive train .The more friction is reduced, the more fuel is saved. Motor oil must maintain an oil film that keeps the surfaces of moving engine separated, minimizing friction that produces excess heat and inhibits fuel efficiency. It is claimed that by using nano-lubricants as engine oil, we will get higher engine power, lower engine noise and use less fuel [2].Reviewing the literature shows that by using metallic nano-particles in the formulation of lubricants, the friction and wear can be reduced [3-4]. Achieving to stable dispersion of nano-particles in oily media can be performed by their surface modification using various capping agents comprising polar groups and long hydrocarbon chains, or various soluble polymeric matrices. Good salvation of the outer shell of such surface capped nano-particles allows their practical application and also commercialization of resulting nano-lubricants [5].Nano-materials tend to be agglomerated when being mixed into a liquid. Therefore effective means of deagglomerating and dispersing are required to overcome the bonding forces after wettening the micron-powder or nano-powder.For this application, ultrasound has proven to be more effective than many other devices [6].In this paper the results of an investigation on the effects of adding surface coated and non-coated copper nano-particles to base oil and commercial multigrade motor oil as lubricants are presented. The antiwear ability of the basic lubricants and resulting nano-lubricants was compared by 4-ball and Falex test methods.