Reuse of spent bleaching clay for supporting MoS2 nanoparticles as a lubricating filler in ABS plastics

Abstract Spent bleaching clay (SBC) is one of the solid wastes in oil companies and its reuse is significant. The present work investigated the preparation and tribological properties of nano-MoS 2 /SBC in ABS plastics. Results showed that nest-like nano-MoS 2 spheres with ∼65 nm diameters were uniformly deposited on SBC. Compared with SBC and nano-MoS 2 , the nano-MoS 2 /SBC presented better tribological properties by reducing friction by ∼20% and wear by ∼67% under selected conditions. Nano-MoS 2 and ABS can both transfer to the steel ball counterpart. ABS was mainly transferred to the fringe of the wear scar via its adhesion effect. However, the nano-MoS 2 was transferred to the intact wear scar to form a transferring film, which primarily caused the lubrication of nano-MoS 2 /SBC in ABS.