Materials Today: Proceedings 28 (2020) 1487–1491

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Design & development of a low cost tribometer for nano particulate

lubricants
Harvinder Singh ⇑, Anoop Kumar Singh, Yogesh Kumar Singla, Kashidas Chattopadhyay
Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Patiala 140401, Punjab, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Pin on disc tribometer is a device to determine coefficient of friction and wear rate of the different mate-
Received 18 March 2020 rials. There is a need to design a tribometer as per standards for different applications. This study was
Received in revised form 3 April 2020 about designing and developing a low cost tribometer to study the wear of automotive engine materials
Accepted 28 April 2020
under lubricants with nano additives. Pin on disc arrangement was designed as per ASTM standard G 99–
Available online 2 June 2020
17. The parameters that can be controlled in the test rig are load, sliding distance, sliding speed, wear
track diameter, lubricant temperature, mixing time of nano additives in lubricants, mixing speed to
Keywords:
the stirrer. Measurement of frictional force was done using load cell attached to arduino circuit. Pilot test-
Pin on disc
Nano additives
ing was done by using 0.5% of nano fly ash having Average Particle Size (APS) < 100 nm, in SAE 10 W–30
Lubricants lubricant. The sliding distance, sliding speed and load were taken as 1500 m, 1.5 m/s, 15 N respectively.
Wear Wear test was conducted for three cases e.i. for dry run, with lubricant and with nano additive lubricating
Friction oils. Wear test was conducted for three replications of each category. It was found that use of nano fly ash
in SAE 10 W-30 was beneficial in reducing the coefficient of friction up to 76.5% and wt. loss up to 28.9%,
as compared with the specimens tested under SAE 10 W-30 base oil only. The use of nano fly ash is also a
novelty of this work. No literature is available on finding the tribological properties of steels using ‘‘Nano
Fly Ash”. Moreover, enhancement in tribological properties using nano fly ash as a lubricant additive
revealed that it can be used as a promising candidate to increase the life of automotive components
up to some extent.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Aspects of Materials Science and Engineering.

1. Introduction where rubbing of different materials take place, resulting in the

Development of low cost tribometer for the industrial applica-
tions where friction and wear plays a vital role is required to save
material and energy. When any material is selected as sliding com-
ponent, it is desired to subject it to a tribo test under similar ser-
vice conditions, to understand its tribological behavior [1]. Then
there is also need to crosscheck that tribological behavior with
the actual behavior in service conditions [2]. In this research, a
low cost and efficient tribometer, to study the tribological behavior
of nano additives in engine lubricants, was designed and
fabricated.
Various aspects in designing the tribometer were taken into
consideration [3]. Tribometer is the important equipment in the
study of friction and wear under lubrication. Tribometer is a device
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: harvinder.shera@chitkara.edu.in (H. Singh).
loss of material from the surfaces under certain environments. This
loss of material from the surfaces is known as ‘‘Wear”. Wear can be
due to adhesion, abrasion, fatigue and erosion [4]. The wear can be
minimized by using the lubricants. Studying the wear behavior by
tribometer is necessary in order to reduce the friction and wear in
materials. Wear rate of the material can be found by measuring
weight loss using digital balances. Tribometer facilitates the study
of the tribological behavior under varied contact pressure, sliding
speed, time and lubrications [5]. Pin on disc tribo test is a labora-
tory test to determine the sliding wear [6,7]. In this tester, the sta-
tionary loaded sample pin is held vertical on a constant rotating
disc. The spherical tip of the sample material ensures that the load
is normal to the disc [8]. The pin on disc wear test is conducted as
per ASTM G99-17 standard, which covers the procedure to deter-
mine the wear in sliding pairs. The testing material is pressed on
the disc with constant load by using lever loaded with weights.
Wear results are obtained at selected sliding distance, load, sliding

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.826
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Aspects of Materials Science and Engineering.
1488 H. Singh et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 28 (2020) 1487–1491
speed and other parameters. Wear at the contact points during the
test provides the information about the wear characteristics of the
materials [9].
Nanolubricants finds rich endeavor in engine applications as
reported by many researchers. There are many studies depicting
that the nano particle are very effective to decrease wear and fric-
tion when dispersed in lubricants. Various nano additives like
polymers, metals, organic and inorganic materials have been used
in different lubricants [10]. Some researchers have used copper
oxide nano particles in lubricants, which reduced wear and friction
[11,12]. Some have used nano boric acid in different volume ratios
as engine oil additives to study friction and wear performance of
cast iron and case carburized gear steel [13]. 1 to 2 wt% concentra-
tion of nano graphene was reported as the best range in the olive,
sunflower, and canola organic lubricating oils, while studying
specific grinding energy, coefficient of friction, surface roughness,
grinding forces and SEM /EDX analysis of TI-6AL-4 V-ELI [14].
Reduced coefficient of friction was reported, when nano graphene
with canola oil was used while machining Ti-6al-4v alloy at vari-
ous cutting speeds like 80 m/min, 130 m/min and 180 m/min
[15]. Many studies were conducted to know the tribological effect
of the size and morphology of nano particles in lubricants [16].
Main mechanisms reported behind the reduction in friction were
rolling/sliding effect, protective film formation, third-body forma-
tion, and mending effects [17]. Most of the tribo tests were con-
ducted using market based expensive pin on disc test rigs [18].
Therefore, there was a need to develop and test, a cost effective tri-
bometer, to study the effects of various nano additives in engine
lubricants.
2. Design and development of the tribometer
2.1. Disc and pin arrangement
Arrangement of pin and sample is shown in the Fig. 1. The pin
material should be prepared such that its hardness does not exceed
the hardness of the disc. The tip of the sample should be spherical
in shape. For testing purposes, the pin was made of AISI 4140 (alloy
steel) and which was hardened to 45 HRC. The material of the disc
was EN 31 hardened to 62 HRC.
2.2. Lever/Load adjustments
Lever was developed using square rod of mild steel. Movable
fulcrum as show in Fig. 2 was designed to facilitate, the movement
Fig. 1. Pin on disc arrangement for nano particulate lubricants.
of pin on the disc in order to vary the wear track diameter. At one
end, the sample holder was designed which could hold the sample
pin of 10 mm diameter. Near the other end, the pulley was
mounted on vertical movable structure. This vertical member
was capable for moving horizontally to adjust wear track diameter
as shown in the Fig. 2. Steel flexible wire was used to connect the
other end of lever to the pan through the pulley. The dead weights
from 0 to 20 kg could be placed in the pan to vary the load from 0
to 200 N.
2.3. Coefficient of friction measurement using load cell with arduino
circuit
A strain gauge based load cell, which created an electrical sig-
nal, whose magnitude is directly proportional to the load or force
being measured, was used. The system architecture and the actual
picture of the arduino circuit is shown in Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 3(b)
respectively. HX711 24-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) was
used. By connecting HX711 amplifier to the microcontroller, the
changes in the resistance of the load cell could be read. After the
calibration, a very accurate frictional force could be measured.
For the communication, HX711 uses a two-wire interface (Clock
and Data). PLX-DAQ, Parallax microcontroller data acquisition
add-on tool for Microsoft Excel was used for acquiring the fric-
tional force from the load cell. PLX-DAQ plots data as it arrives in
real-time using Microsoft Excel. The Coefficient of friction is given
by newton force divided by load in newton. Using this data coeffi-
cient of friction v/s sliding distance graphs can be plotted.
2.4. Sliding speed variation with variable frequency drive(VFD)
Motor of specifications, 1 hp and 1440 rpm with pulley reduc-
tion, was used to rotate the disc of the set up. Fuji electric drive
was used to control the speed of that three-phase motor through
the potentiometer. Hence, the speed of the disc could be varied
from 100 rpm to 800 rpm.
2.5. Mechanical stirrer and oil supply
Mechanical stirrer to mix the nano additive in lubricating oil
was attached over the rotating disc. It can be used to mix the nano
additives in engine lubricating oil at different speed and for differ-
ent periods. Agglomeration is the main problem of the nano addi-
tives in the engine lubricants. Use of different surface chemicals to
increase the homogeneity of the nano particles in the engine base
oil can be a good option. Therefore, the mixing of different surfac-
tants for the nano particles in the oil could be done using the stir-
rer. After that the prepared oil can be directly be released over the
pin-disc interface through the pipe of 3 mm diameter. The flow of
the oil can be controlled by using one-way valve.
2.6. Calibrations and error analysis
In a trial run, frictional force is measured by placing load cell
touching the sample pin directly. Then it is fixed at an equal dis-
tance from the fulcrum on the other side. Error in the frictional
force can be calculated by subtracting both the values. Hence,
the absolute value of the frictional force could be found. Error in
the exact load experienced by the pin can be calculated by placing
the load cell under the tip of the pin after putting the known
amount of the weights in the pan. The error can be calculated by
subtracting this normal load force in Newton at the pin and the
weight force in Newton in the pan. Hence, this error can be com-
pensated in the frictional force readings to get the exact coefficient
of friction.
 H. Singh et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 28 (2020) 1487–1491 1489

Fig. 2. Schematic Diagram of the Tribometer.

Fig. 3. (a) System architecture for the arduino circuit; (b) Arduino circuit for measuring the frictional force.

3. Experimentation methods and validation
Testing of the set up was done by using nano fly ash particulate
in SAE 10 W-30 engine lubricant. Nano fly ash powder, average
particle size (APS) < 100 nm, spherical in shape, was procured from
Nanoshel-Intelligent Materials Pvt Ltd India. TEM image of fly ash
nano particles can be seen in Fig. 4(a). XRD graph of fly ash nano
particles can be seen in Fig. 4(b). 0.5% percentage by weight of
the nano powder was induced in one litre the engine lubricant.
The nano particles were stirred for 30 min at 60⁰ C. A spherical
tip, sample pin of AISI 4140 material was prepared. The conditions
taken for the test were load 15 N, sliding speed 1.5 m/s and sliding
distance 1500 m. Three cases studied were, with dry run, with SAE
10 W-30 and with SAE 10 W-30 + 0.5% nano fly ash by weight.
Three replications for each case were done. Total nine samples,
three repetitions (Rep) for each category were tested as per the
Table 1. The graphs for coefficient of friction v/s the sliding dis-
tance were plotted by the set up in all cases.
4. Results and Discussion
The set up designed can be used to study the tribological effect
of any of the nano particles in powdered or liquid form in various
engine-lubricating oils. Various parameters like load, sliding dis-
tance, track diameter, sliding speed, lubricant temperature, mixing
time of nano additives in lubricants and mixing speed of the stirrer
can be varied in the set up designed. Temperature of the lubricants
can be varied while mixing the nano particles. The effect of the stir-
ring speed on the uniformity of the nano fluids can also be studied
by this set up.
The set up was used to study the effect of the nano fly ash addi-
tive in the lubricants on AISI 4140. Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b) show the
1490 H. Singh et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 28 (2020) 1487–1491
Fig. 4. (a) SEM Image of nano fly ash; (b) XRD pattern of nano fly ash.
Table 1
Samples & Trails.
Sample No Trails
1 Dry Run Rep 1
2 Dry Run Rep 2
3 Dry Run Rep 3
4 With Base OiL Rep 1
5 With Base OiL Rep 2
6 With Base OiL Rep 3
7 With Nano Oil Rep 1
8 With Nano Oil Rep 2
9 With Nano Oil Rep 3
Fig. 5. (a) Average Coefficient of Friction each trail; (b) Weight Loss in each trail.
graph of coefficient of friction (COF) and the weight loss (mg) for
all the nine sample pins respectively. These graphs depict signifi-
cant decrease in COF and wear loss, when nano fly ash is added
to the base oil. The average coefficient of friction was 0.53 during
dry run, 0.11 with SAE 10 W-30 and 0.02 with SAE 10 W-30
+ 0.5% nano fly ash by weight. The average wear loss in mg was
44.53 mg in dry run, 17.41 mg with SAE 10 W-30 and 12.77 mg
with SAE 10 W-30 + 0.5% nano fly ash by weight. The coefficient
of friction v/s sliding distance plot for the all the three cases is
shown in Fig. 6(a). In the figure it may also by pointed out that,
the cofficient of friction during the dry run increases at about
1200 m and stabilizes beyond that. This is due to increase in sur-
face roughness and depositing of debris removed from the tip of
the material in the long run [3].
SEM image of the tip of AISI 4140 sample in third case is shown
in the Fig. 6(b), which shows scuffing and adhesive wear of the
material. The nano particles under lubrication form a tribofilm
between the surfaces of the rubbing materials. The formation of
tribofilm protects the metal contacts, therefore reducing coeffi-
cient of friction & wear. These particles get embedded in worn pits
on contact surfaces. Tribofilm bears load & separates the surfaces,
which results in wear drop. Fly ash nano particles roll between the
surfaces which results in mixed rolling and sliding friction. There-
fore, the coefficient of friction and wear are reduced remarkably.
The results also indicate the reduction in wear due to ball bearing
effects of fly ash nano particles between the rubbing contacts.
Nano particles resulted in a film formation between contacting
region that resulted in reduction in coefficient of friction.
5. Conclusions
The following objectives were met by this study:
1. A low cost tribometer to conduct the wear test under nano
lubricants was designed and developed. Load cell connected
to the arduino circuit was used to measure the frictional force
experienced by the test sample. Separate stirrer attachment to
mix the nano additive into the lubricant oil, preventing agglom-
eration was also provided in the set up. Coefficient of friction
could be recorded into the excel sheet using PLX-DAQ (Parallax
microcontroller data acquisition add-on tool for Microsoft
Excel).
2. The pilot wear test was conducted on AISI 4140 steel, using
nano fly ash additive in SAE 10 W–30 lubricating oil. It gave
extremely good tribological results. The comparison of three
cases i.e. for dry run, with lubricant and with nano additive in
lubricating oil, was done. It was found that the use of nano fly
ash in SAE 10 W-30 was beneficial in reducing the coefficient
of friction up to 76.5% and wt. loss up to 28.9%, as compared
with the specimens tested under SAE 10 W-30 base oil only.
 H. Singh et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 28 (2020) 1487–1491
Fig. 6. (a) Coefficient of friction v/s sliding distance plot for all three cases; (b) SEM image of the tip of pin with nano fly ash + base oil case.
3. The use of nano fly ash is also the novelty of this work. No lit-
erature is available on finding the tribological properties of
steels using ‘‘Nano Fly Ash”. Moreover, enhancement in tribo-
logical properties using nano fly ash as a lubricant additive
revealed that it can be used as a promising candidate to
increase the life of automotive components upto some extent.
4. The nano particles under lubrication form a tribofilm between
the surfaces of the rubbing materials. The formation of tribofilm
protects the metal contacts, therefore reducing coefficient of
friction & wear. Fly ash nano particles roll between the surfaces
which results in mixed rolling and sliding friction. Therefore,
the coefficient of friction and wear are reduced remarkably.
5. The low cost tribometer can also be used to study the effects of
other nano additives in the engine lubricating oils at different
parameters.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Harvinder Singh: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodol-
ogy, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Anoop
Kumar Singh: Supervision, Validation, Visualization. Yogesh
Kumar Singla: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing
- review & editing. Kashidas Chattopadhyay: Resources, Software,
Visualization, Methodology.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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