Experimental comparison between ZnO and MoS(2) nanoparticles as additives on performance of diesel oil-based nano lubricant

This study compares the tribological and thermophysical features of the lubricating oil using MoS(2) and ZnO nano-additives. The average size of MoS(2) and ZnO nanoparticles were 90 nm and 30 nm, respectively. The nanoparticles were suspended using Triton X-100 in three different concentrations (0.1, 0.4 and 0.7 wt.%) in a commercial diesel oil. Tribological properties such as mass loss of the pins, friction coefficient, and worn surface morphologies and thermophysical properties such as viscosity, viscosity index, flash point and pour point of resulting nano lubricant were evaluated and compared with those of pure diesel oil. The tribological behavior of nano lubricants was evaluated using a pin-on-disc tribometer. The worn surface morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy. The overall results of this experiment reveal that the addition of nano-MoS(2) reduces the mass loss values of the pins in 93% due to the nano-MoS(2) lubricant effect. With 0.7 wt.% in nanoparticles content, the viscosity of MoS(2) and ZnO nano lubricants at 100 °C increased by about 9.58% and 10.14%, respectively. Pure oil containing 0.7 wt.% of each nanoparticle increased the flash point because of its small size and surface modifying behavior compared to the pure oil. Moreover, the addition of ZnO nanoparticles with pure oil lubricant is more suitable than MoS(2) nanoparticles for improving the thermophysical properties of pure oil.