Tribological performances of highly dispersed graphene oxide derivatives in vegetable oil

Abstract The lubricant additives could be added into vegetable oil to improve the tribological. Two lubricant additives (GO-D and GO-T) were synthesized and characterized by the reaction between the carboxyl of graphene oxide (GO) and 1-dodecanethiol and tert -dodecyl mercaptan, respectively. The dispersion stability and tribological properties of GO-D and GO-T in rapeseed oil were investigated. The results show that the dispersion stability and tribological properties of GO-D in rapeseed oil are superior to that of GO-T, and both of them are better than that of GO. In addition, the surface morphology and chemical analysis of steel ball show that GO-D and GO-T sheets form absorption and tribochemical film on the rubbing surface.