Tribological Effects of Vegetable Oil as Alternative Lubricant: A Pin-on-Disk Tribometer and Wear Study

ABSTRACT

The investigation of lubricated friction and wear is an extended study. The aim of this study is to investigate the friction and wear characteristics of double fractionated palm oil (DFPO) as a biolubricant using a pin-on-disk tribotester under loads of 50 and 100 N with rotating speeds of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ms⁻¹ in a 1-h operation time. In this study, hydraulic oil and engine oil (SAE 40) were used as reference base lubricants. The experiment was conducted using aluminum pins and an SKD 11(alloy tool steel) disc lubricated with test lubricants. To investigate the wear and friction behavior, images of the worn surface were taken by optical microscopy. From the experimental results, the coefficient of friction (COF) rose when the sliding speed and load were high. In addition, the wear rate for a load of 100 N for all lubricants was almost always higher compared to lubricant with a load of 50 N. The results of this experiment reveal that the palm oil lubricant can be used as a lubricating oil, which would help to reduce the global demand for petroleum-based lubricants substantially.

KEYWORDS:

• Aluminum
• pin-on-disk tribometer
• coefficient of friction
• sliding wear

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Technology Malaysia, for their support and cooperation during this study.

Funding

The authors also thank the Research Management Centre (RMC) for the Research University Grant (GUP-03H58) from the Universiti Technology Malaysia, Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and E-Science Fund, and ERGS from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of Malaysia for financial support.