The Tribological Properties of Hydrogenated DLC Coating Lubrication with Additive Having Glycerol and Phosphonate Structure

Abstract

In general, several mechanical parts are subjected to friction and wear. To prevent wear and high friction coefficient under lubrication, additives can work to reduce friction force, to build up thin film on surfaces which is so-called tribofilm. Recently, Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) is focused because it has excellent low friction and high wear proof as solid lubricant. However, several researchers already reported that tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) showed abnormal wear when it rubbed with glycerol mono-oleate (GMO) that is a kind of additive, although it showed very low friction coefficient. To improve tribological properties, new additives were developed that had both phosphate-oxide structure derived from ZnDTP which had high wear resistance and hydroxy group derived from GMO in one structure. To clarify the effects of the additives, friction tests were performed fixed-roller-on-disk type rotating friction tester. In the friction tests, hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) disks, and a-C:H coated rollers were used under boundary lubrication condition at 20-80°C. Friction tests were conducted in Poly-α-olefin (PAO) oil with each GMO and the additives. The results exhibited that a-C:H gave ultra-low friction with the additive. Elemental analysis of the surface showed that tribofilm of phosphorus and oxygen was detected on the a-C:H surface in the additive used condition.