Novel and sustainable production characterization and testing of various nanocarbons as excellent additives in lubricants

Abstract

i newlineAbstract newlineThis Ph.D. thesis addresses two crucial materials engineering aspects. They are: 1) nonavailability newlineof kg scale production strategies for nanocarbons and 2) improving lubrication newlineusing nanocarbons (that are produced using sustainable methods) as additives. Nanocarbons newlineare well-known for their unique and unsurpassed properties, making them potential materials newlinein various applications, including lubrication. However, most of these envisaged applications newlineare hindered by the non-availability of sustainable production strategies for these nanocarbons. newlineThese nanocarbons are primarily prepared on only a gram scale. On the other hand, it is wellknown newlinethat friction and wear losses in terms of energy savings, CO2 emissions, and incurring newlinecosts are alarming. It is known that these undesired losses can be minimized through effective newlinelubrication. One way of improving lubrication is to use efficient lubrication additives. This newlinePh.D. thesis reports the investigations on novel and sustainable production strategies of newlinedifferent nanocarbons (i.e., 0D, 1D, and 2D nanocarbons) and their use as additives in newlinelubricants to improve lubrication. 0D nanocarbons, namely tyre pyrolysis waste (TPW) and newlineonion-like carbon (OLC) particles, 1D multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and 2D newlinemulti-layer graphene (MLG) particles, are produced on a large-scale using sustainable newlineprocesses. These nanocarbons are then thoroughly characterized for general material newlinecharacteristics and tested as lubricant additives in different lubricating oils following the newlinespecified ASTM standard. Ultrasonication was used to prepare the lubricant samples with newlineadditives. Comprehensive rheological and tribological tests are carried out to determine the newlineeffect of nanocarbon concentrations on the lubricating performance of the oils. Experimental newlinestudies have demonstrated and verified that employing carbon soot created by controlled newlineburning of waste tyre tubes in lubricating oil (group-2 N500 de-waxed oil) can lower the newlinecoefficient of friction (CoF) and wear scar di