The influence of ordered carbon structures on the mechanism of tribocatalysis

Abstract This article is part of a series of articles on the mechanism of tribocatalytic processes. The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior of lubricants containing zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) and ordered molecular structures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), fullerenes (C60) and antistatic additive (ASA). The mechanism of lubricant additives has been studied for many years and has been described in numerous publications, including [11,12,30,31]. Two types of tribological tests were used: the high frequency reciprocating rig (HFRR) test and the triboelectric (TET) test, with the latter developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology. It was found that the effectiveness of the lubricating additive (ZDDP) depended on the presence of ordered molecular structures, which were able to conduct energy from the surface of the specimen to the ZDDP reaction zones inside the boundary lubricating film. CNTs and ASA were reported to conduct energy effectively. Fullerenes (C60), on the other hand, were not suitable as energy conductors in the lubrication process.