The Effect of Silicon Carbide Ceramic Nanoparticles on the Tribological Properties of SN500HVI Paraffinic Base Oil

The effect of silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles on the tribological properties of the base oil was investigated by friction and wear tests. SiC nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and added to the base oil at various weight percentages of (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 5). To increase the stability of SiC nanoparticles in the base oil, the surface was modified using oleic acid. To characterize the morphology of SiC nanoparticles, the FT-IR, FESEM and XRD techniques were applied. This investigation was carried out in the base oil SN500HVI from Sepahan Oil Company, Iran. The friction and wear tests were performed on the mixture of SN500HVI/nanoparticles. The tribological properties of nanoparticles in base oil were investigated using pin on disc test according to ASTM G99 test method. Based on the results obtained by XRD, the average size of SiC was known to be less than 30 nm. The mixture of nanoparticles in base oil with concentrations of 0.25, 0.5 and 1 wt.% led to reduction of friction coefficient by 26%, 15%, and 4%, in comparison to pure base oil, respectively. This tribological behavior was due to adhesiveness of nanoparticles on involving surfaces. Furthermore, the topography of worn surfaces was analyzed using FESEM. The results illustrated that the nanoparticles can be an effective additives to improve the quality of lubricants in terms of reducing the friction and wear due to their proper physical properties such as suitable hardness, spherical shape and high specific surface area.