Tribochemistry evolution of DDP tribofilms over time using in-situ synchrotron XAS

Abstract Ashless dialkyldithiophosphate (DDP) antiwear additives are good candidates to replace the widely used metallic DDPs such as zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP), which are less environmentally friendly. A newly designed in-situ tribological rig was utilised to perform in-situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in order to examine the decomposition reactions of two types of DDPs; acidic and neutral. The tribological experiments showed that the two DDP additives decomposed to form protective tribofilms on the steel surface, which provided better antiwear protection than ZDDP regardless of the tribofilm thickness. The neutral DDP formed a thinner tribofilm (about 33 nm) than ZDDP (about 41 nm), whereas the tribofilm of the acidic DDP had a much lower thickness (