Superlubricity behaviors of Nitinol 60 alloy under oil lubrication

The tribological tests were performed using Nitinol 60 alloy pin sliding over GCr15 steel disc in the tribometer system. Four kinds of oils were experimentally investigated as lubrication oils for lubricating Nitinol 60 alloy in the boundary lubrication regime. The experimental results were compared with a reference dry friction. It was found that Nitinol 60 alloy can be lubricated significantly and has shown remarkable lubrication performance. A superlubricity behavior of Nitinol 60 alloy was observed under castor oil lubrication. An ultra-low coefficient of friction of Nitinol 60 alloy about 0.008 between Nitinol 60 alloy and GCr15 steel was obtained under castor oil lubrication condition after a running-in period. Accordingly, the present study is focused on the lubrication behaviors of castor oil as potential lubrication oil for Nitinol 60 alloy. In the presence of castor oil, coefficient of friction is kept at 0.008 at steady state, corresponding to so-called superlubricity regime (when sliding is then approaching pure rolling). The mechanism of superlubricity is attributed to the triboformed OH-terminated surfaces from friction-induced dissociation of castor oil and the boundary lubrication films formed on the contact surface due to high polarity and long chain of castor oil allowing strong interactions with the lubricated surfaces.