Experimental Study on Gear EP Lubricant Mixed with Al2O3/SiO2/ZrO2 Composite Additives to Design a Predictive System

Abstract

The friction and wear volume loss is the main cause for a failure & energy losses in heavy-duty gearboxes and it can be controlled by using a modified lubricant mixed with nano additives. This study investigates the wear and friction behaviour of gear EP oil blended with composite nano additives (Al2O3/SiO2/ZrO2) in combination with Zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate. All trials were conducted under various concentrations of composite nanoparticles, at loads of 60-100 N and sliding velocities of 0.65-1.5 m/s. The experimental study on antiwear and anti-friction properties for the oil was conducted on a pin-on-disc apparatus. The design of experiment was developed using response surface approach to investigate optimum friction coefficient and wear volume loss in lubricant. It is found that blending of nano composite add-ons blended with Zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate in gear EP lubricant significantly diminishes a wear volume loss, friction coefficient by 15.62 % and 20.6 % respectively as compared to a base lubricant. The findings of this investigation and the obtained correlations were converted in to customized visual basis based soft tool as a predictor for future aspects.

Keywords

• friction
• wear
• nano composite
• gearbox oil