Executive Summary : | In an automobile, frictional losses in components like engines, gear boxes, transmission systems, and wheel ends account for nearly 33% of the total fuel consumption which need to be reduced. Lubrication of the contacting regions is essentially an integral part for reducing the losses for which conventionally, mineral oils, synthetic oils and greases are utilized. Recently, with the surge in the sales of electric vehicles, the need for the developing effective transmission e-fluids have also increased. The advent of nanotechnology has increased access to a variety of different types of functionally active nanomaterials. Engineered fluids with dispersions of nanoparticles are commonly known as nanofluids, and those utilized for lubrication are commonly referred to as nanolubricants. Among different types of nanomaterials (metals, alloys, and ceramics), recently nanolubricants dispersed with graphene-based derivatives have gained considerable attention due to its attractive properties viz., easy shear capability, stable existence in the ultrathin state, high strength, high specific surface area, and excellent thermal conductivity. Despite exhibiting promising tribological properties, the cost of graphene-based derivatives is exorbitant which does not make the real-life application for industrial lubrication cost effective and feasible. In this work, the principal investigator proposes to develop cost effective graphene oxide (GO) by ball milling. Employing this technique, easily available, cheap graphite will be exfoliated to produce graphene oxide by planetary action. The synthesized GO will be functionalized by chemical modifiers to ensure stable dispersion of the dispersoid in the base lubricant (chosen for EV applications) and/or grease. The developed nanolubricants will be characterized by usual material characterization techniques for ascertaining the shape, morphology, phase and purity of the samples. Rheological and tribological properties of the nanolubricants will be investigated as a function of various parameters. Post-tribological characterization of the mating surfaces will reveal the mechanism of wear at the contact. The investigator also proposes to scale up the research by associating with NBC Bearings who will support field trials of the nanolubricants dispersed in lubricating oils and/or greases for bearing lubrication to be utilized for automotives, particularly electric vehicles. Though several research articles are available in literature for the synthesis of graphene by ball milling, the PI, to the best of her knowledge, could not find any relevant application in nanolubrication. Currently, no research group has focused on the cost-effective synthesis of graphene nanolubricants by mechanical alloying in India. The PI with her previous expertise on nanofluids and nanolubricants wishes to take forward this knowledge for the assessment of tribological properties of graphene based nanolubricants prepared by mechanical alloying. |