High temperature tribological behaviors of nano-diamond as oil additive

The tribological behaviors of the nano-diamond particles including the nano-diamond and the nano-diamond modified were studied at high temperature using SRV multifunctional test system. The worn steel surfaces were analyzed by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show that nano-diamond particles can obviously improve the antiwear and friction reducing properties of the base oil at high temperature and the high load. The friction coefficient of the nano-diamond is very low at 200 ℃ when the test load is not more than 20 N. This tribological behaviors should attributed to the similarly to "ball bearing" lubrication action of the nano-diamond particles, so the movement between tribological pairs become sliding/rolling. The nano-diamond modified by dimer ester possesses excellent antiwear and friction reducing performance at 500 ℃ and load 500 N. The tribochemical reaction film between the nano-diamond particles and the renascent wear surface plays dominating lubrication role and the presence of the dimer ester on the rubbing surface can be propitious to form lubrication film containing nanodiamond on the worn surface at high temperature and high load.