To the New Concept of Green Tribology

The aim of the present work is to confirm the fundamental possibility of creating new generation of the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants are studied under conditions of boundary lubrication in inactive oil, as green tribology aspect and to experimentally prove the efficacy of the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants for engineering applications. Tribological properties of nanostructured composite coatings-orientants are studied under conditions of boundary lubrication in inactive oil, as green tribology aspect. The friction tests were carried out by using two test configurations: “ball-on-disc” and “ring-to-ring”. As lubricants some model and commercial oils were used. It is found that the friction coefficient and its temperature dependence differ significantly for nanostructured composite coatings under study. The obtained results were attributed to different orientating effect of these coatings on structural ordering in boundary layers, which structure is considered as a mesophase of liquid crystals. The findings suggest that the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants with orientating effect on boundary layers are advantageous for improving antifriction characteristics and for governing processes of boundary lubrication. The nanostructured composite coatings-orientants can improve lubricating properties of oils (with and without additives) and may be advantageous for engineering practice as they improve antifriction characteristics of rubbing pairs and allow controlling the processes of boundary lubrication. Thus, received nanostructured composite coatings-orientants can be today the best materials of green tribology in engineering.