Friction and wear characteristics of chemically modified mahua (madhuca indica) oil based lubricant with SiO2 nanoparticles as additives.

There is a tremendous increase in global warming due to the pollution enhanced by petroleum product utilization. Lubrication of the machinery parts is the main requirement for the industries, but conventional lubricants are having major problems related to their drainage. So, providing an eco-friendly oil and having better lubricity is a major task in recent research activities. This work performed tribological characteristics of epoxidized Madhuca indica oil while considering SiO 2 nanoparticles as additives. According to the evaluation, the Madhuca indica oil contains more unsaturated fatty acids by means of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The unsaturated fatty acid in the oil was chemically improved by the epoxidation technique to make it more acceptable, and varying quantities of silicon dioxide (SiO 2) were added. The thermo-physical properties of the material, such as kinematic viscosity, viscosity index, pour point, and flash point, as well as its tribological performance, were assessed. An optical microscope was utilized to examine the worn surfaces. The tribological characterization was carried out on a pin on disc wear testing machine. At 100 °C, nanoparticles addition to chemically treated oil results rise in kinematic viscosity of 1.2 wt percent. The addition of SiO 2 nanoparticles resulted in a flash point rise, but the pour point decreased. The presence of SiO 2 in the epoxidized oil improves the consistency of distribution. The addition of 0.8 wt%SiO 2 nanoparticles reduced the coefficient of friction & wear rate. The improved surface wear was observed up to 0.8 wt% concentration of nanoparticles and the same has been verified by worn surface images. • Friction and Wear characteristics of epoxidized oil with SiO 2 nanoparticles as additives. • The tribological analysis was performed on pin on disc machine at fixed operating conditions. • An increase in the viscosity index percentage was seen when the SiO 2 nanoparticles were mixed. • Improved frictional and anti-wear mechanism was observed at 0.4 wt% and 0.8 wt% of nanoparticles concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]