Tribological and rheological performance of friction modifiers with different viscosities

Friction modifier (FM) in the rail/wheel applications is a special lubrication material that could be applied between the top of rail and the tread of wheel. The application of FM brings many benefits to the wheel-rail interface such as reducing noise, alleviating wheel-rail wear and mitigating corrugation. Viscosity is an important parameter to reflect fluid properties of FM materials. In this study, FM samples with different viscosities were prepared by changing the content of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The tribological and rheological performance of these FM samples were explored using the twin-disc testing machine and rotational rheometer. Furthermore, the relationship between the tribological and rheological results were tried to establish. The results showed that the increase in the content of CMC could increase the viscosity of FM and enhance the solid-like characteristic of FM, which could help FM reduce coefficient of adhesion (COA) level and wheel-rail damage. For the FM material developed in this study, the rational applying amount and the range of viscosity were about 15 μL/time and 200 Pa s to 400 Pa s, respectively, considering the factors of wheel-rail adhesion, wear, potential waste and pumping process in the practical application.