TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF COARSE RAPESEED OIL ADDITIVATED WITH NANOPARTICLES OF ZINC OXIDE

This paper presents the influence of ZnO as additive in refined rapeseed oil in a mass concentration of 1%wt on the tribological parameters. Tests are done on a four-ball machine from the laboratory LubriTest, at "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati. The test parameters were load: 100 N, 200 N and 300 N and the rotational speed 1000 rpm, 1400 rpm and 1800 rpm, corresponding to the following sliding speeds, 0.38 m/s, 0.53 m/s and 0.69 m/s, respectively. Particles of ZnO have 14 +-5 nm. The rapeseed oil was supplied by Expur SA Bucharest. For the tested ranges of the parameters, the additivation of rapeseed oil with ZnO does not improve the friction coefficient, but the wear rate of WSD seems to be less sensitive for the more severe regimes when the vegetal oil is additivated. The additivation of rapeseed oil with ZnO is still efficient for the tested ranges of load and speed as compared to the neat rapeseed oil, but there is visible that friction coefficient and analysed wear parameter are less influenced by the regime for the concentration of 1% ZnO in rapeseed oil.