Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.52, No.46, 16169-16174, 2013
New Ecological Lubricants on the Basis of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Formed by Solutions of Maracuja Oil Ethoxylate
Aqueous 60% solutions of maracuja oil ethoxylated with 60 mol of ethylene oxide containing hexagonal mesophases were proposed as model biocompatible safe-to-use lubricants. Tests were carried out at steady loads using a four-ball tester (Tester T-02) (1-6 kN) and a ball-on-disk tribometer (Tester T-11) (10-50 N) in order to verify tribological properties of the solutions. At high loads (Tester T-02) a significant, almost 4.5-fold reduction in the coefficients of friction (mu) and about 2.5-fold decrease in wear scar diameter (d) were found relative to water as a base. Tester T-11 was used to study the suitability of the lubricant tested for lubrication of the following friction pairs: steel ball-steel disk, different types of ceramics, and polymers at lower loads. The ethoxylate solutions are excellent lubricants also for those pairs of materials. The interpretation of the results obtained was based on the proposed adsorptive-structural mechanism.