Tribological properties of nano-sized ZrO2 ceramic particles in automotive lubricants

The demand for decreasing CO2-emission and harmful material content of the exhaust gas of passenger cars requires the improvement of the entire powertrain including the applied lubricants. One of the possible future engines lubricant can be the nano-sized ceramic particles, which can provide positive tribological properties also in the presence of nonmetallic surface materials. This paper presents the experimental investigation of ZrO2 nanoceramic powder as a lubricant additive. The tribological performance of the lubricant samples was experimentally investigated on a ball-on-disc translation tribometer. An optimum concentration was found at 0.4 wt%, where the wear scar diameter on the ball specimen was reduced by more than 40% compared to the reference sample. The SEM-analysis confirmed the mending mechanism theory: nanoparticles were revealed to aggregate between the asperities resulting in a significantly smoother contact surface.