Tribological properties and lubrication mechanism of oleylamine-modified FeCoNi magnetic nanoparticles as additive in polar synthetic ester oil

Synthetic ester oils are crucial for high-precision equipment lubrication. Strongly polar ester oils competitively adsorb with conventional additives, hindering their effectiveness. This paper proposes the use of FeCoNi nanoparticles as the additive for diisooctyl sebacate (DIOS), a polar synthetic ester oil, attempting to overcome the issue of competitive adsorption faced by traditional additives in polar base oils. Specifically, oleylamine-modified FeCoNi (OA-FeCoNi) nanoparticles were prepared as the additive for DIOS base oil by in situ surface modification technique combined with polyol method, a one-pot liquid-phase chemical method. Friction and wear tests as well as adsorption experiments confirmed the strong adsorption capability of OA-FeCoNi nanoparticles on steel surfaces, demonstrating their effectiveness in enhancing lubrication performance. The present approach, hopefully, would shed light on the facile and well available design and fabrication of efficient anti-wear and friction-reducing agents for polar synthetic ester oils.