Molecular adsorption, self-assembly, and friction in lubricants

Lubricants are complex fluids consisting of a base oil and many different additives, and are used to control friction and wear between solid inorganic surfaces in relative motion. A review of recent work on molecular simulations of lubricants is given. It is shown that simulations can be used to unc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of molecular liquids 2019-03, Vol.277, p.606-612
Main Authors: Apóstolo, Rui F.G., Tsagkaropoulou, Georgia, Camp, Philip J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Friction
Lubricants
Molecular dynamics simulations
Self-assembly
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Summary:Lubricants are complex fluids consisting of a base oil and many different additives, and are used to control friction and wear between solid inorganic surfaces in relative motion. A review of recent work on molecular simulations of lubricants is given. It is shown that simulations can be used to uncover a lot of interesting behaviour, including additive adsorption, additive self-assembly, and a competition between the two. The specific examples to be discussed are: the adsorption of stearic acid and oleic acid in squalane on iron-oxide surfaces; the self-assembly of glycerol monooleate in bulk n-heptane; the adsorption and friction of glycerol monooleate in squalane on iron-oxide surfaces; and the conformations of functionalised copolymers in bulk n-heptane. The structures adopted by the additives can be correlated with the observed frictional properties, opening up the possibility of molecular-level design of new lubricants. •A review of recent work on molecular simulations of adsorption, self-assembly, and friction in lubricants.
ISSN:0167-7322
1873-3166
DOI:10.1016/j.molliq.2018.12.099