Project Details
Projekt
Solid lubrication by carbon nanotubes: Understanding transfer layer formation and sliding at a fundamental level using atomistic simulations and experimental nano analytics
Subject Area
Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
Term
from 2018 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407711892
Friction and wear cause tremendous costs which amount to about 5 % of the gross domestic product of highly industrialized countries. At the same time, there are many efforts to change from liquid to solid lubricants for environmental reasons and in order to reduce the dependence on fosil oil resources. However, at the moment solid lubricants are only applied where liquid lubrication fails. This is the case under extreme conditions as in vacuum, at high temperatures, pressures and sliding velocities. The further development and design of solid lubrication systems especially also under high mechanical loading is thus of high technological relevance.Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are cylindrical nano structures made from carbon Atoms with excellent mechanical, physical and chemical properties and are as a materials class closely related to graphite or graphene. In combination with well prepared and structured tribo surfaces they can act as highly efficient and durable solid lubricants. On the other side, the microscopic mechanisms determining the tribological behaviour of CNTs is only poorly understood. The main unanswered questions concern the formation of tribo- and transfer layers, the lubrication processes and the Degradation of CNTs under mechanical and tribochemical loading. The controlled design of CNT lubrication therefore requires further Research activitites.Goal of this research proposal is a more in-depth understanding of the tribomechanical and tribochemical aspects at the microscopic level. The outcome of our research will be used to develop design rules for the target application of ball bearings under high mechanical loading. That means we have to find out which parameter determine the formation of transfer layers on one hand and the friction reduction on the other.The research proposal combines atomistic simulations with tribological experiments and physical as well as chemical analytics.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Co-Investigators
Dr. Leonhard Mayrhofer; Dr. Gianpietro Moras; Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Suarez Vallejo
