Effect of electrical stress on ionic liquid additives in naphthenic base oils and biolubricant blends

Important results from the project

The primary goal of this project was to conduct novel electrochemical neutron reflectivity measurements on mixtures of tribologically relevant ionic liquid additives in pure and hybrid biobased lubricant oils to characterise the interfacial structuring and electroresponsive behaviours. This project was a collaboration between Nynas AB and KTH, and aimed at building competence around industrial utilisation of advanced experimental environments and provide the company’s first- experience of using a large-scale neutron infrastructure. We believe all of these goals have been met.

Expected long term effects

Miscibility and nanotribometer lubrication studies on IL-oil mixtures were conducted at KTH prior to the NR experiments to guide the choice of systems studied. On these selected mixtures, data was generated from two NR beamtimes on the beamline SUPERADAM at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) on metal oxide and metal surfaces. In addition, complementary electrochemical analyses were conducted in situ. Some of these results have already been included in a publication. It is also expected that at least one other NR focused publication will be generated from from this project.

Approach and implementation

The project has followed the schedule well. Two NR beamtimes were successfully applied for and scheduled within the project timeframe. Miscibility tests and establishment of dispersion protocols were conducted before scheduled beamtimes and complementary in situ electrochemical measurements performed using model metal and novel metal oxide substrates developed, as part of this project, to be suitable for NR. The expedited scheduling of the two beamtimes last year enabled the last 6 months to focus on data analysis and has allowed for the preparation of publications.