An exploratory study of silver nanoparticle laden lubricants for electrical contacts

Electrical contacts are critically important for a wide variety of applications, including computing, automotive, manufacturing, and renewable energy technologies. Due to a combination of vibrations and environmental conditions, these contacts are often susceptible to fretting corrosion and other wear mechanisms. In many cases it is not possible to design a stable dry contact system that is also within cost restraints. Therefore lubricants are often employed. Liquid lubricants can reduce wear but cause problems due to the non-conductive nature of typical lubricants. If a film develops between the surfaces due to tribofilm formation, lubricant degradation, or hydrodynamic lift, this can result in an increase in the electrical contact resistance. Fairly recently researchers have explored the use of nanoparticles to enhance the friction and wear properties of lubricants. Some of the nanoparticles are metallic and could also improve the conductivity of the lubricant within an electrical contact. In this work, the performance of silver nanoparticle laden dodecane lubricants are observed relative to pure dodecane and ZDDP enhanced dodecane. These results suggest that the nanoparticles do produce a reduced and more stable contact resistance, while also reducing friction and wear.