【Frontiers of HaiChuan Technology】New progress achieved in research on oil-based ultra-low friction lubricating materials at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics

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The last edit to this post was made by Desert Fish on 2024-12-13 at 06:51. Developing new types of ultra-low friction and wear lubricating materials has always been a key focus of tribology research; such materials can significantly reduce energy consumption in industrial machinery, extend the lifespan of equipment, and further facilitate the development of next-generation energy-saving devices. Recently, the research team led by Researcher Wang Daai from the Key Laboratory of Lubricant Materials at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new sub-nanowire-based grease lubricant based on the shear-thinning effect (Figure 1). This lubricant enables superlubrication of Si3N4 and PTFE under different friction conditions at the macroscopic scale; no additional lubricant is required within 12 hours, and the friction coefficient remains stable at 0.007. It features a short running-in time and long-term stable lubrication performance, holding great promise for industrial applications and representing new progress in the field of superlubrication. The relevant research results were published in Adv. Mater. (2024, 2412257). The researchers also took advantage of the three-dimensional network structure of shear-thin subnanowire materials to confine various base oils, developing a series of semi-solid gel lubricants (Figure 2), which further improved the lubrication performance of these base oils. These lubricants remained stable over more than 130,000 friction cycles, demonstrating their potential for long-term use. Most importantly, by increasing the proportion of raw materials in the laboratory, it is possible to successfully produce products in kilogram quantities, demonstrating their potential for industrial application. In addition, the lubricant prepared by combining sub-nanowires with PAO6 lubricating oil also achieved anti-friction and wear resistance at the steel-steel interface, thereby significantly improving the lubrication properties and load-carrying capacity of the PAO6 lubricating oil. The relevant research findings were published in ACS Nano (2024, DOI:10.1021/acsnano.4c12703). Wang Liucheng, a Ph.D. student at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, and Zhang Liqiang, an assistant researcher, are the co-first authors of the paper, while Researcher Wang Daai is the corresponding author.