On the feasibility of using biodegradable oils in gear lubrication

Summary

The proposed research aims at testing the applicability of the use of biodegradable lubricants as an alternative to fossil-based lubricants in gear applications. Until now, most commonly used lubricants are petroleum-based. Such lubricants rely on oil. A resource that will become increasingly scarce in future. Moreover, they are known for their poor environmental degradability. Accordingly, leakage into the environment or in water streams due to poor handling or incorrect disposal at their end-of-life would inevitably lead to environmental pollution. Therefore, recycling and reuse of such lubrication oils is preferred to disposal [1]. Used motor oils can be re-refined into new oils, processed into fuel oils, and used as raw materials for the petroleum industry. With more than 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is a major market for lubricants with a yearly demand of about 441,000 metric tons, making Egypt one of the largest markets in Africa and the Middle East, a region that accounts for 8 % of global demand [2]. A main application herein is gear lubrication in motors and other movable parts. In recent years, many researchers and companies have introduced oils of bio-origin or oils that are easily degraded in the environment in an attempt to remedy the abovementioned drawbacks. Moreover, some industries, such as food appliances, dictate the use of food-grade lubricants, which makes such bio-based lubricants an appealing choice. However, up to date, these biodegradable lubricants have shown modest lubrication characteristics and thus inappropriate for demanding applications such as gears, where Herzian pressures are accompanied by high shear rates and elevated temperatures. The research team of Prof. Katharina Weber at Aalen University has conducted numerous studies on the advancement of biodegradable oils. Recent results show the potential of newly-developed lubricants that allow for high performance application as for gear lubrication. With this proposed research work, the materials engineering research team of Ain Shams University in Egypt can benefit from experimenting the applicability of such lubricants on conventional metallic gear materials such as S45C carbon steels, as well as on polymeric materials suitable for gears, which will be provided by the research group of Prof. Iman Taha from Aalen University. In this research work, multiple experiments will be carried out in Aalen university by the funded Egyptian personnel travelling to Germany. For the lubricant, a full rheology testing is planned to first characterize the lubricant in question. In a next step tribological tests to assess the wear behavior of the selected steels and polymers are the basis for investigating the applicability of bio-based lubricants. As a reference, these tests would be repeated with a typical fossil-based oil such as Polyalphaolefin oils (PAO). In addition to that, static tests would be carried out, such as oxidation test for the steel specimens and swelling tests for the polymeric materials and assessing the impact on mechanical properties. The collected results will be analyzed in detail and further summarized in a final report, and further published in esteemed journals.

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