scholarly journals Optimization of the Rheological Properties and Tribological Performance of SAE 5w-30 Base Oil with Added MWCNTs

Lubricants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Bahaa M. Kamel ◽  
Vineet Tirth ◽  
Ali Algahtani ◽  
Mohamed S. Shiba ◽  
Ahmed Mobasher ◽  
...  

The augmentation of lubricant oil properties is key to protecting engines, bearings, and machine parts from damage due to friction and wear and minimizing energy lost in countering friction. The tribological and rheological properties of the lubricants are of utmost importance to prevent wear under unembellished conditions. The marginal addition of particulate and filamentous nanofillers enhances these properties, making the lubricant oil stable under severe operating conditions. This research explores the improvement in SAE 5w-30 base oil performance after the addition of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in six marginal compositions, namely, Base, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10 weight percentage. The effect of the addition of MWCNTs on flash and pour points, thermal conductivity, kinematic viscosity, friction coefficients, and wear are investigated and reported. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to characterize the MWCNTs. The purity, crystallinity, size, shape, and orientation of the MWCNTs are confirmed by XRD and TEM characterization. Pour points and flash points increase by adding MWCNTs but inconsistency is observed after the 0.06 wt.% composition. The thermal conductivity and kinematic viscosity increase significantly and consistently. The friction coefficient and wear scar diameter reduce to 0.06 wt.% MWCNTs and then the trend is reversed due to agglomeration and inhomogeneity. A composition of 0.06 wt.% is identified as the optimum considering all the investigated properties. This composition ensures the stability of the tribo-film and hydrodynamic lubrication.

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huajie Tang ◽  
Jianlin Sun ◽  
Zhangliang Zhao ◽  
Zhao Han

Abstract The tribological behavior of lubricants, prepared with a mineral base oil, lauryl alcohol, and different concentrations of coumarin, was examined using a four-ball tester under constant and variable friction velocity conditions. At constant friction velocity, the maximum non-seizure load (PB) increased from 304 N to 392 N at a coumarin concentration of 0.5 wt%. Lubricants with 0.7 wt% coumarin exhibited optimum lubricating properties, and the maximum reductions in friction coefficient (FC) and wear scar diameter (WSD) were 20.0% and 11.88%, respectively. Further investigation of the tribological mechanism implied that the ester group in the coumarin molecule established a connection with the surface atom, resulting in the formation of a tribofilm, which further restricted the adhesion wear regime. Additionally, under variable friction velocity conditions, increasing the coumarin concentration had an obvious effect on the mixed lubrication (ML) and elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) regions but not on other lubrication regions. Moreover, a mathematical model was proposed to show the relationship between FC and friction velocity. Importantly, the present work clarifies the effect of friction velocity on the tribological behavior of coumarin and also supports the use of coumarin as a novel additive in mineral oils.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
Sakhr Mohammed Sultan ◽  
Chih Ping Tso ◽  
Ervina Efzan Mohd Noor ◽  
Fadhel Mustafa Ibrahim ◽  
Saqaff Ahmed Alkaff

Photovoltaic Thermal Solar Collector (PVT) is a hybrid technology used to produce electricity and heat simultaneously. Current enhancements in PVT are to increase the electrical and thermal efficiencies. Many PVT factors such as type of absorber, thermal conductivity, type of PV module and operating conditions are important parameters that can control the PVT performance. In this paper, an analytical model, using energy balance equations, is studied for PVT with an improved parallel flow absorber. The performance is calculated for a typical sunny weather in Malaysia. It was found that the maximum electrical and thermal efficiencies are 12.9 % and 62.6 %, respectively. The maximum outlet water temperature is 59 oC.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096739112199290
Author(s):  
N Rasana ◽  
K Jayanarayanan ◽  
Krishna Prasad Rajan ◽  
Aravinthan Gopanna

Multiscale hybrid composites were prepared using varying weight percentages (0 to 5) of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as nanofiller and a fixed weight percentage (20) of short glass fibres as micro filler (in polypropylene (PP) matrix. The shear and extensional viscosity of the composites was measured using a capillary rheometer. It was observed that even at higher shear rates the synergism of micro and nanofillers in the matrix significantly enhanced the melt viscosity. The complex nanotube network entanglement with micro fillers and PP chains imparted restrictions to the polymer chain movements. The prepared samples were subjected to thermal ageing at 100°C for 4 days in hot air oven. After ageing, multiscale composite with 3 wt% MWCNTs exhibited 28.57% enhancement in strain at break, whereas the tensile strength and modulus reduced by 6.8% and 8% respectively. The fracture toughness properties like strain energy release rate and critical stress intensity factor were not affected for multiscale composite at the optimum content of 3 wt% MWCNT, even after thermal ageing.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Liem ◽  
Wu Zhenpeng ◽  
Jiao Renqiang

The effect of the shape/size and distribution of microgeometries of textures on improving the tribo-performance of crankpin bearing is proposed. Based on a combined model of the slider-crank mechanism dynamic and hydrodynamic lubrication, the distribution density, area density, and shape of spherical textures, square-cylindrical textures, wedge-shaped textures, and a hybrid between spherical texture and square-cylindrical texture on the crankpin bearing's tribo-performance are investigated under different operating conditions of the engine. The tribological characteristic of the crankpin bearing is then evaluated via the indexes of the oil film pressure p, asperity contact force, friction force, and friction coefficient of the crankpin bearing. The research results show that the distribution density with n = 12 and m = 6, and area density with α = 30% of various microtextures have an obvious effect on ameliorating the crankpin bearings tribo-performance. Concurrently, at the mixed lubrication region, the shape of the square-cylindrical texture on improving the tribo-performance is better than the other shapes of the spherical texture, wedge-shaped texture, and spherical and square-cylindrical texture. Particularly, all the average values of the asperity contact force, friction force, and friction coefficient with a square-cylindrical texture are significantly reduced by 14.6%, 19.5%, and 34.5%, respectively, in comparison without microtextures. Therefore, the microtextures of the spherical texture applied on the bearing surface can contribute to enhance the durability and decrease the friction power loss of the engine.


Author(s):  
Fan Gong ◽  
Yong Huang

The objective of this work is to investigate the flame stabilization mechanism and the impact of the operating conditions on the characteristics of the steady, lean premixed flames. It’s well known that the flame base is very important to the existence of a flame, such as the flame after a V-gutter, which is typically used in ramjet and turbojet or turbofan afterburners and laboratory experiments. We performed two-dimensional simulations of turbulent premixed flames anchored downstream of the heat-conducting V-gutters in a confined passage for kerosene-air combustion. The flame bases are symmetrically located in the shear layers of the recirculation zone immediately after the V-gutter’s trailing edge. The effects of equivalence ratio of inlet mixture, inlet temperature, V-gutter’s thermal conductivity and inlet velocity on the flame base movements are investigated. When the equivalence ratio is raised, the flame base moves upstream slightly and the temperature gradient dT/dx near the flame base increases, so the flame base is strengthened. When the inlet temperature is raised, the flame base moves upstream very slightly, and near the flame base dT/dx increases and dT/dy decreases, so the flame base is strengthened. As the V-gutter’s thermal conductivity increases, the flame base moves downstream, and the temperature gradient dT/dx near the flame base decreases, so the flame base is weakened. When the inlet velocity is raised, the flame base moves upstream, and the convection heat loss with inlet mixture increases, so the flame base is weakened.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Almadhaji ◽  
Mohammed Saeed ◽  
Hitham Ibrahim ◽  
Anas Ahmed ◽  
Ragaei Maher

Abstract One of Sudanese fields has a heavy crude oil which has a high Total Acid Number (TAN) and high viscosity, can cause a lot of problems in production operation, transport, and storage facilities. The effect of ethanol dilution on the rheological properties of crude (especially the kinematic viscosity) was studied and presented. Moreover, the consequence of blending Trona (NaHCO3.Na2CO3) with a specified amount of Ethanol in the crude can reduce (TAN) to acceptable limits for solving corrosion and flowability problems. The approach is based on the experiments and laboratory works on the crude's samples after blending with a certain amount of Trona and Ethanol. It depends on the results of apparatuses, that are used to measure the samples, for instance, Calibrated glass capillary viscometer and ASTM D664 titration volume Total Acid Number tester which are employed to get the values of kinematic viscosity and TAN, respectively. The tests are established with crude have kinematic viscosity (187 cst) at temperature 75°C and TAN almost (8.51). While increasing the dosage of Trona at the ambient temperature (38°C) with the certain mass percentage of Ethanol (5%), TAN is decreased from (8.51 to 4.00 mgKOH/g). Also, the kinematic viscosity is declined from (187 cst to 96.75 cst) after increasing the volume of Ethanol at 75°C. These outcomes indicated that Ethanol could reduce Sudanese heavy crude's viscosity, and the Trona could decrease the TAN. This reduction occurred due to Ethanol dilution. The Ethanol molecules disturb the molecular structure of the crude, which forms polar bond within the hydrocarbon chain that leads to lower the friction between molecules of hydrocarbon in the crude. Also, Trona shrinks TAN because the Hydroxide ions (OH+) that founded in Trona neutralize the Hydrogen ions (H−) in Naphthenic acid in Sudanese heavy crude. This study can be summarized in the ability to solve the difficulty of transporting and processing the heavy crude oil in refineries; maintains the quality of the crude while utilizing it with friendly environmental materials and low cost.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document