Tribological properties of diamond nanoparticle additive in water under a lubrication between steel plate and tungsten carbide ball

We studied the effectiveness of diamond nanoparticles (DNPs) dispersed in water as a lubricant additive between stainless steel plates and sintered tungsten carbide (WC) balls. DNP dispersions with concentrations of 0.01, 0.1 and 1 wt.% were prepared and used as lubricants under a load of 1.88 N, for 240,000 friction cycles. High-friction coefficients of more than 0.3 were observed in an initial period. Then friction coefficients declined and stabilised at values of approximately 0.1. The steady-state friction coefficients were independent of the DNP concentration and lower than that for distilled water. In the initial period, wear of both the plates and ball was obvious. In the steady-state period, additional wear on the plates was a little; however, ball wear scars were clearly observed. The size of the ball wear scars decreased with decreasing the DNP concentration. It is likely that DNPs were embedded mainly in the stainless steel plates, and the embedded DNPs protected the plates and wore the balls in the steady-state period. Compared with the lubrication under distilled water, the friction coefficient and wear of the plate under the lubrication by the 0.01 wt.% DNP dispersion were lower, and the wear of the ball by this lubrication condition was not higher.