Thermophysical properties of deep eutectic solvent-carbon nanotubes (DES-CNT) based nanolubricant
1Taylor’s University, Jalan Taylor’s, Subang Jaya, 47500 Selangor, Malaysia; Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Sepang, 43900 Selangor Malaysia
2Taylor’s University, Jalan Taylor’s, Subang Jaya, 47500 Selangor, Malaysia
3Graphene & Advanced 2D Materials Res. Group, School of Sci. and Tech., Sunway University, Malaysia
4Research and Development, Apar Industries Limited, Mumbai, India
5Fuel cell institute, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600 Selangor, Malaysia
J Ther Eng 2020; 2(6): 53-64 DOI: 10.18186/thermal.726059
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Abstract

Lubrication is an important aspect when it comes to machinery and equipment in the industry where nanolubricants are extensively being explored as the future of lubricants. Nanolubricants are new-engineered fluids, which are dispersed with nanoparticles that aids in the interface movement by forming a protective layer hence reducing the wear and friction and dissipate the heat generated due to friction. In this research, a new synthetic lubricant is formulated by mixing two or more components of hydrogen bond donors and halide salt that achieves lower melting points compared to individual components. In this study, Glycerol and Polyethylene Glycol 600 (PEG) acts as the HBDs with common salt of Choline Chloride (ChCl). The nanolubricants were synthesised via two-step method by dispersing three different concentration of Functionalised Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (F-MWCNTs) of 0.01 wt%, 0.05 wt% and 0.10 wt% with the aid of ultrasonication. The stability of the suspensions were studied via optical microscopy and visual observation. The addition of F-MWCNT increased the resultant dynamic viscosity of the nanolubricant whereas the density was not much affected. Besides that, thermal conductivity showed positive enhancement for glycerol DES nanolubricant and negative enhancement for PEG DES nanolubricant. Thus, this study concludes that the thermophysical properties of DES base fluids and MWCNT have potential to be used as lubricants due to its enhanced physical properties.