Tribological characterisation of lubricant additives – friction and wear behaviour

The basic function of a lubricant is to reduce friction and wear between two surfaces in relative motion. This is usually achieved by forming a load-bearing fluid film at the contact interface. However, in many applications, the role played by lubricants is far more complex.

For instance, in addition to the basic tasks mentioned above, lubricant used in an automotive engine is expected to dissipate heat, wear and foreign particles away from the mating interface, prevent oxidation and corrosion of the metal parts, maintain stability at high temperature, provide effective sealing, to name a few. All these requirements, however, cannot be fulfilled by the base oil alone. Therefore, specific chemical components known as additives are added to it to address these explicit requirements.

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