TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF INTRODUCING CARBON NANOPARTICLES PRODUCED BY ARC DISCHARGE IN DIFFERENT PARAFFIN OIL GRADES
Electric arc discharge can be used to provide plasma required for synthesis nanoparticles. The arc discharge process may be performed in vacuum or liquid medium. Various nanoparticles were synthesized by arc discharge process in hydrocarbon mediums like toluene, benzene, and paraffin oil. The main purpose of using hydrocarbon mediums is hopefully to increase the yield amount of resultant nanoparticles or provide a suggestion that carbon nanotubes may be synthesized by using hydrocarbon medium. However, there is not any observed previous work that assess the possibility of using the resultant hydrocarbon after the arc discharge process in an engineering application. One of the novel applications of nanotechnology is the use of nanoparticles as oil additive in order to enhance tribological behavior of lubricants. A wide range of both nanotubes and nanoparticles were studied as additives into oils. Carbon nanotubes, carbon nanoparticles,and onions are examples of carbonous nanomaterials used as additive into lubricating oils. As concluded from literature, nanoparticles and nanotubes describe a significant modification on tribological behavior thought the boundary lubrication regime.