Carbon Nanomaterials as Promising Solid Lubricants to Tailor Friction and Wear

A special issue of Lubricants (ISSN 2075-4442).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 23813

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
Interests: advanced materials characterization; mechanical and tribological behavior of composite materials; electrical behavior of C-reinforced composites; nano C-based protective coatings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Materials, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Interests: MXenes; nanocomposites; tribology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The family of carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) is continuously growing, and has attracted significant attention in the scientific community, mainly due to the outstanding physical properties they offer. The combination of excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties has made CNMs ideal candidates for purposes related to energy storage, supercapacitors, and batteries. Apart from that, CNMs have been used to tailor tribological properties by using them as an additive in lubricants or as a reinforcement phase in composite materials. Additionally, their application as a solid lubricant under dry sliding conditions has been foreseen as possible due to their combination of structural, chemical, and mechanical properties.

This Special Issue exclusively aims at the latest developments in the field of carbon nanomaterials used as solid lubricants under dry sliding conditions. In this context, the range of carbon nanomaterials includes carbon black, graphene and its derivatives, carbon nanotubes, carbon onions, nanodiamonds, and many others. Furthermore, advanced materials characterization enabling a more detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms to reduce friction and wear are highly welcome in this Special Issue. Moreover, numerical work based upon different approaches and a cross-correlation to experimental findings also fall within the scope of this Special Issue.

It should be emphasized that amorphous carbon or diamond-like carbon and their respective tribological properties as well as any use of carbon nanomaterials as lubricant additives are not considered as the focus of this Special Issue.

Dr. Sebastian Suarez
Prof. Dr. Andreas Rosenkranz
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Carbon nanomaterials
  • Solid lubricants
  • Dry friction
  • Friction and wear mechanisms
  • Advanced materials characterization

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 141 KiB  
Editorial
Carbon Nanomaterials—Promising Solid Lubricants to Tailor Friction and Wear
by Sebastian Suarez and Andreas Rosenkranz
Lubricants 2019, 7(6), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7060051 - 18 Jun 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2711
Abstract
It is our pleasure to launch this Special Issue related to the application of carbon nanomaterials as solid lubricants to tailor friction and wear [...] Full article

Research

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10 pages, 25825 KiB  
Article
Friction and Tribo-Chemical Behavior of SPD-Processed CNT-Reinforced Composites
by Katherine Aristizabal, Alexandra Tayrac, Andreas Katzensteiner, Andrea Bachmaier and Sebastian Suarez
Lubricants 2019, 7(9), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7090075 - 30 Aug 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3426
Abstract
Nickel (Ni) and carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced Ni-matrix composites were manufactured by solid state processing and severely deformed by high-pressure torsion (HPT). Micro-tribological testing was performed by reciprocating sliding and the frictional behavior was investigated. Tribo-chemical and microstructural changes were investigated using energy dispersive [...] Read more.
Nickel (Ni) and carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced Ni-matrix composites were manufactured by solid state processing and severely deformed by high-pressure torsion (HPT). Micro-tribological testing was performed by reciprocating sliding and the frictional behavior was investigated. Tribo-chemical and microstructural changes were investigated using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB). The CNT lubricity was hindered due to the continuous formation of a stable oxide layer promoted by a large grain boundary area and by irreversible damage introduced to the reinforcement during HPT, which controlled the frictional behavior of the studied samples. The presence of CNT reduced, to some extent, the tribo-oxidation activity on the contact zone and reduced the wear by significant hardening and stabilization of the microstructure. Full article
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11 pages, 21826 KiB  
Article
On the Solid Lubricity of Electrophoretically Deposited Carbon Nanohorn Coatings
by Timothy MacLucas and Sebastian Suarez
Lubricants 2019, 7(8), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7080062 - 26 Jul 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3016
Abstract
In this study, dahlia-type carbon nanohorns (CNH) have been deposited onto a stainless steel substrate by using electrophoretic deposition. Secondly, the lubrication properties of the carbon nanohorn coating have been researched by tribometry and compared to an uncoated reference. Wear track analysis has [...] Read more.
In this study, dahlia-type carbon nanohorns (CNH) have been deposited onto a stainless steel substrate by using electrophoretic deposition. Secondly, the lubrication properties of the carbon nanohorn coating have been researched by tribometry and compared to an uncoated reference. Wear track analysis has been conducted to identify the underlying tribo-mechanisms. Additionally, Raman spectroscopy was employed to study the structural changes of the CNH during dispersion and tribological testing. Furthermore, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used in order to investigate the chemical composition of the wear tracks’ surface. This work has shown that CNH coatings have the ability to maintain effective solid lubrication on a polished stainless steel surface. A temporary friction reduction of 83% was achieved compared to the uncoated reference. Moreover, the lubricity was active for significant periods of time due to the formation of a Mg(OH)2 layer which provides a certain degree of substrate adhesion as it holds the CNH in the wear track. Once this holding layer wanes, the CNH are gradually removed from wear track resulting in an increase of the coefficient of friction. The complete removal of CNH from the wear track as well as considerable oxide formation was confirmed by EDX. Moreover, the amount of defects in the CNHs’ structure increases by being exposed to tribological strain. Adhesion has been identified as the dominant wear mechanism. Full article
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18 pages, 5962 KiB  
Article
A Chemical, Mechanical, and Tribological Analysis of DLC Coatings Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering
by Giulia Fiaschi, Alberto Rota, Antonio Ballestrazzi, Diego Marchetto, Enrico Vezzalini and Sergio Valeri
Lubricants 2019, 7(4), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7040038 - 25 Apr 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4808
Abstract
Diamond-like carbon is one of the most studied and used solid lubricants on the market. Despite this large use and its outstanding mechanical and tribological properties, there are still some unclear aspects related to its self-lubricant properties, and some drawbacks in the deposition [...] Read more.
Diamond-like carbon is one of the most studied and used solid lubricants on the market. Despite this large use and its outstanding mechanical and tribological properties, there are still some unclear aspects related to its self-lubricant properties, and some drawbacks in the deposition methods. We deposited “soft” DLC films on Si(100), iron, and stainless steel substrates by PVD magnetron sputtering technique with a Cr/CrN adhesive interlayer. The DLC films were characterized from a chemical, mechanical, and tribological point of view. Our aim was to connect the coating chemical and mechanical characteristics to the different conditions used for the deposition, such as discharge power and substrate–target distance. We found a stronger sp3 dependence on the discharge power for DLC deposited closer to the target. The tribological results did not depend on the chosen substrate–target distance, but rather on the hardness of the substrate. This could be ascribed to the better mechanical coupling of soft DLC films on harder substrates. Full article
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9 pages, 3161 KiB  
Article
Reduction of the Coefficient of Friction of Steel-Steel Tribological Contacts by Novel Graphene-Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) Lubricants
by Ignacio Garcia, Silvia Guerra, Juan de Damborenea and Ana Conde
Lubricants 2019, 7(4), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7040037 - 24 Apr 2019
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5645
Abstract
Deep eutectic ionic liquids (DES) possess similar properties to conventional ionic liquids (ILs). However, ILs cannot be considered as environmentally friendly compounds due to both its processing and synthesis, which could have significant polluting effects. On the contrary, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) can [...] Read more.
Deep eutectic ionic liquids (DES) possess similar properties to conventional ionic liquids (ILs). However, ILs cannot be considered as environmentally friendly compounds due to both its processing and synthesis, which could have significant polluting effects. On the contrary, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) can be biodegradable, non-toxic, and have a lower price than most ILs, making them potentially useful in a wide variety of advanced technological applications, such as tribology. On the other hand, graphene has recently been proposed as an extremely promising lubricant due to its combination of mechanical properties and chemical stability as well as its “green” character. In the present paper, graphene flakes (≈250 nm) have been used as an additive to DES composed of choline chloride (ChCl)-urea, ChCl-ethylene glycol, and ChCl-malic acid. According to the results, the addition of 1 wt% graphene reduces friction coefficient (COF) and, notably, prevents adhesive wear, reducing wear rate on steel-steel sliding contacts. Full article
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Other

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9 pages, 1825 KiB  
Perspective
Rapid Thermal Characterization of Graphene Oxide—Nanocalorimetry as a Pathway for Novel Insights in Tribology
by Karsten Woll, Tobias Neuhauser, Camilo Acuña, Donovan Diaz-Droguett and Andreas Rosenkranz
Lubricants 2019, 7(11), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7110096 - 29 Oct 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3293
Abstract
The use of solid lubricants such as graphene, graphene oxide, and other nanoparticles have gained notable attention in the tribological community to reduce friction and wear thus aiming at improved energy efficiency and sustainability. Tribological experiments unify rather extreme conditions such as high [...] Read more.
The use of solid lubricants such as graphene, graphene oxide, and other nanoparticles have gained notable attention in the tribological community to reduce friction and wear thus aiming at improved energy efficiency and sustainability. Tribological experiments unify rather extreme conditions such as high contact pressures, small contact areas, relative sliding motion, and rapid heating. This combination leads to mechanically- and/or thermally induced chemical, structural and microstructural modifications of the lubricating nanoparticles during rubbing thus altering their material’s properties. Due to the high sensitivity, we propose nanocalorimetry as the method of choice to shed more light on the thermally-induced processes and changes. As a model material for solid lubricants, we explore the transitions of graphene oxide under heating with 1000 °C/s up to 600 °C using quasi-adiabatic nanocalorimetry. We identify a strong exothermic runaway reaction at 317 °C. This runaway is preceded by exothermic reactions between 75–125 °C, which are correlated with the release of intercalated species and the formation of CO and CO2. Full article
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