Tribological behavior of organic formulated polymer concentration effect in bio-based lubricant using high-frequency reciprocating rig

Abstract

This study developed Eichhornia Crassipes Carboxymethyle cellulose (EC-CMC) organic polymer and evaluate its concentration effect as additive with base rapeseed oil (rap. oil). The developed EC-CMC was characterized using SEM, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR to know its nature and compatibility with base oil. The experiment was conducted in terms of coefficient of friction (COF), load carrying capacity, surface roughness (Ra) and wear scar diameter (WSD). In the area of COF, addition of EC-CMC shows significant reduction, against base oil. Under load of 100 N, the COF recorded from various concentration 0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt.% EC-CMC were 0.0699, 0.0559, and 0.0866 respectively compared to base oil with 0.0891, while commercial SAE 5W-30 has COF of 0.0547. This is 37.3 % reduction against base oil but increased by 2.6 % compared to SAE 5W-30. The load capacity of the blended lubricants revealed that higher loads provide better COF than lower load. Analyzing Ra, samples with EC-CMC yielded smoother surface than lubricated surface with base oil. Sample with 1wt.% EC-CMC yielded 47.1 % reduction wear scar dimeter against pure rap. oil. The good performance from EC-CMC is attributed to their functional groups detected by FT-IR analysis. The outcome of this will contribute to utilizing organic polymers in lubrication so as reduce emissions generated from inorganic polymers.