Lubricants are used in numerous applications to control friction and protect moving parts from fatigue. These fluids consist of a variety of surface active chemistries competing for the surface to provide performance. In order to develop fluids that meet the ever-increasing requirements (from legislation and manufacturers), techniques that can provide insight into surface adsorption, in real time, and relate it back to performance are critical. The objective of this work is to determine if Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) is an effective technique to investigate surfactant adsorption in regimes that are common to the transportation lubricant industry. QCM-D is employed to quantify the mass, characterize the morphology, and quantify the kinetics of adsorption of common friction modifiers. The adsorption information is then compared to macroscopic properties (friction and corrosion prevention) to determine if this technique can aid in formulating future lubricants.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 L437 / Master of Science / Chemical Engineering

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING / Bibliography: leaf 68. / by Clarence Teh-Ching Chang. / M.S.

Glycerol monooleate (GMO) is a common engine oil lubricant additive used to reduce friction and wear in engines. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the properties of GMO in bulk and under confined conditions with shear using molecular dynamics simulations. The self-assembly of GMO into reverse micelles (RMs) in toluene and n-heptane solvents is studied at a range of concentrations and subsequently with several common engine impurities over simulation timescales of 5-30 ns. The dimensional properties of the RMs are found to correspond well with experimentally studied SANS/SAXS measurements. Secondly, the properties of GMO confined between mica surfaces are studied under quiescent and shear conditions. Under shear, the performance of GMO as a friction modifier is studied and the structural and frictional properties are examined. In particular, the mass density and velocity profiles of the fluid are used to gain insights into the structure and dynamics of the confined GMO fluid films, under a variety of shear rates and surface separation. The data is found to fit excellently to the universal friction curve. Following this the effect of hydrolysing the GMO to oleic acid is studied in bulk and under shear, it is found that increasing oleic acid concentration typically reduces the propensity to self-assemble and under confinement increases the friction coefficient. And finally, a study on a range of other similar surfactants is conducted to investigate the effect of unsaturation, head group and chain length on the calculated friction coefficient and the structure of the surfactant films.

Thesis (M.D.S.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-105) Also available in print.

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