Influence of carbon nanotube on the tribological properties of vegetable-based oil

Abstract

A pin-on-disk friction and wear tester was used to investigate the tribological properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with different sizes and volume fractions as LB2000 vegetable-based oil additive. The wear scar of disk was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, the lubrication mechanism of multi-walled carbon nanotubes as vegetable-based oil additive was also discussed. It was found that thin and short multi-walled carbon nanotubes could improve the friction-reducing and anti-wear properties of vegetable-based oil more effectively than thick and long multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The optimal volume fraction of thin and short multi-walled carbon nanotubes was found to be 0.05%.