Ionic Liquids as Antiwear Additives in Base Oils: Influence of Structure on Miscibility and Antiwear Performance for Steel on Aluminum

The use of ionic liquids as additives to base oil for the lubrication of steel on aluminum was investigated. The miscibility and wear performance of various phosphonium, imidazolium, and pyrrolidinium ionic liquids in a range of polar and nonpolar base oils was determined. The structure and ion pairing of the ionic liquids was found to be important in determining their miscibility in the base oils. In wear tests, some of the miscible base oil/IL blends reduced the aluminum wear depth when compared to that found with the base oil alone. The nonpolar base oil/IL blends were able to withstand higher wear-test loads than the polar base oil/IL blends. At 10 N, as little as 0.01 mol/kg of IL, or 0.7-0.9 wt %, in the nonpolar base oils was enough to drastically reduce the wear depth on the aluminum. XPS analysis of the wear surfaces suggested that the adsorbing of the IL to the surface, where it can form low-shear layers and also react to form tribofilms, is important in reducing friction and wear. The largest reductions in wear at the highest load tested were found for a mineral oil/P-6,P-6,P-6,P-14 (1)(C-8)(2)PO2 blend.