Preparation and Tribological Properties of TiO2/WO3 Nanocomposite Lubricant

Nanocomposite Lubricants have been the focus of research in recent years. In this paper, tetrabutyl titanate (TBOT) was used to obtain TiO2-encapsulated WO3 nanoparticles, their microstructures and morphology were characterized by XRD and SEM. Adsorption site and interaction energy of citric acid, triethanolamine oleate, stearic acid and trioctyl phosphate as dispersants and TiO2 were calculated. The results demonstrate that the reactivity from strong to weak follow the order of citric acid > triethanolamine oleate > stearic acid > trioctyl phosphate. Among the four dispersants, triethanolamine oleate has the strongest electron gain and loss ability and adsorption capacity and used as dispersant to obtain TiO2/WO3 nanocomposite lubricant. Addition of 0.015 vol.% TBOT, the oil film strength is up to 530 N and COF is 0.087. The lubrication mechanism of the TiO2/WO3 nano composite in the sliding process is attribute to tribofilm lubrication.