Project title: Molecular design of complex lubricants to reduce friction
Project dates: 01/01/2020 - 31/12/2022
Grants and funding: ARC- DP200100442 (RMIT share: $85,782)
Description
The overall aim of this project is to investigate the molecular level design of friction modifiers for a new generation of industrial lubricants. The RMIT contribution is to predict the shear-banding and stick/slip phenomena known to occur under extreme lubrication conditions by applying newly developed non-local constitutive models pioneered by Daivis and Todd.
Research strategy
Daivis and Todd have recently developed a new theory that describes the highly non-local coupled response of the density, shear stress and velocity profiles of simple liquids to combined shearing and confining forces. While it was developed in the context of molecular dynamics simulations with periodic boundary conditions, we are currently extending it to confined fluids. By combining this theory with state-of-the-art classical free energy density functional theory for molecular liquids, we will further develop and extend it to predict the complex lubrication behaviour observed by Dini and collaborators. Using a combination of theoretical tools, it will be possible to account for confinement, phase transitions and the non-local equilibrium and nonequilibrium response of highly confined, sheared fluids.
Rationale
Increasing energy efficiency is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from industry and private consumers through maximising energy efficiency is of paramount importance. However, this moderation of greenhouse gas emissions needs to be achieved whilst also ensuring that economic growth is not slowed, particularly as the world’s population continues to increase. Our project – an international collaboration between leading researchers at Swinburne, RMIT and Imperial College London – will contribute towards these goals by combining experiment with state-of-the-art theoretical and computational techniques to design at the molecular level new generation friction modifiers and additives for lubrication purposes.
Key people
- Prof Peter Daivis, Prof B.D. Todd (Swinburne University of Technology)
- Prof Daniele Dini (Imperial College)
- Dr Janet Wong (Imperial College)
Associated journal publications
- J.P. Ewen, S.K. Kannam, B.D. Todd, D. Dini, Slip of alkanes confined between surfactant monolayers adsorbed on solid surfaces, Langmuir, 34 (2018) 3864.
- B.D. Todd, P.J. Daivis, Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics: theory, algorithms and applications, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2017.
- J.S. Hansen, B.D. Todd, P.J. Daivis, Prediction of fluid velocity slip at solid surfaces, Phys. Rev. E, 84 (2011) 016313.
- B.A. Dalton, K.S. Glavatskiy, P.J. Daivis, B.D. Todd, Nonlocal response functions for predicting shear flow of strongly inhomogeneous fluids. II. Sinusoidally driven shear and multisinusoidal inhomogeneity., Phys. Rev. E, 92 (2015) 012108.
- K.S. Glavatskiy, B.A. Dalton, P.J. Daivis, B.D. Todd, Nonlocal response functions for predicting shear flow of highly inhomogeneous fluids. I. Sinusoidally driven shear and sinusoidally driven inhomogeneity., Phys. Rev. E, 91 (2015) 062132.
