Two decades ago, the literature dealing with the possible applications of low molar mass liquid crystals, also called monomer liquid crystals (MLCs), only included about 50 references. Today, thousands of papers, conference reports, books or book chapters and patents refer to the study and applications of MLCs as lubricants and lubricant additives and efforts are made to develop new commercial applications. The development of more efficient lubricants is of paramount technological and economic relevance as it is estimated that half the energy consumption is dissipated as friction. MLCs have shown their ability to form ordered boundary layers with good load-carrying capacity and to lower the friction coefficients, wear rates and contact temperature of sliding surfaces, thus contributing to increase the components service life and to save energy. This review includes the use of MLCs in lubrication, and dispersions of MLCs in conventional polymers (PDMLCs). Finally, new lubricating system composed of MLC blends with surfactants, ionic liquids or nanophases are considered.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/9/4102/pdf

Liquid Crystals in Tribology

The preparation of silver sulfide nanoparticles in lamellar liquid crystal and application to lubrication

Improvement in lubricating properties of TritonX-100/n-C10H21OH/H2O lamellar liquid crystals with the amphiphilic ionic liquid 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate.

Water-based lubricants might become an interesting alternative to conventional oil-based lubricants and help to reduce wear as well as improve the energy efficiency of transport processes. Since pure water is generally a rather poor lubricant due to its low viscosity and corrosiveness, it must be tribologically optimized with suitable additives. Here, we study the friction behavior of alkyl glucopyranosides (AGPs) with varying lengths of the alkyl chain. Sliding experiments show that a significant reduction in the coefficient of friction compared to that of pure water is observed. The extent of friction reduction depends strongly on the concentration and on the shearing conditions. It is assumed that the low coefficients of friction are due to the ability of AGPs to form liquid crystalline phases with an ordered structure in the friction gap. Furthermore, the interaction of the AGPs with the surface forms a wear protection layer (boundary lubrication). The friction properties of the water-based system are compared to those of a conventional, mineral oil-based lubricant.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4442/8/1/11/pdf

Macroscopic Friction Studies of Alkylglucopyranosides as Additives for Water-Based Lubricants

The review summarizes the literature data and the authors’ own research results on the application of liquid crystals in tribology. It has been shown that both thermotropic (calamitic, discotic, cholesteric) and lyotropic (surfactants, chromonics) mesogens as tribological additives are able to optimize the properties of lubricating compositions when introduced even at low concentrations to oils and greases. A wide possibility of varying the chemical structure of mesogens and studying the relationship between their structure and tribological properties can be used for the desired (programmed) change of the quality of tribotechnical processes. The synergism of the combined use of mesogenic esters of cholesterol and carbon nanostructures as additives in improving tribological properties has been established. The use of synthetic lubricants in biological systems still requires further research as the experimental results obtained on models of joint prostheses in vitro conditions are significantly worse than the results obtained in vivo. Considering the annual loss of billions of US dollars worldwide due to the low efficiency of friction processes in the industry and the resulting wear, liquid crystals and the systems based on them can be the most effective way to optimize these processes. The present review will be useful for researchers and industrialists.

Liquid Crystals as Lubricants

The phase diagram of the system formed by diethanol ammonium dodecanoate ( DCD ) / n-butano1 / paraffin oil (LP) /water was determined The lyotropic liquid crystal region was confirmed and the use of liquid crystal as lubricant on aluminum alloy surfaces was studied. The effect of the liquid crystal structure on the tribological properties was also evaluated. Comparing the wear scar widths and the vertical loads of liquid crystal with that of a commercial grease. The lamellar liquid crystal showed a higher load carrying capacity relative to the commercial grease.

Weimin Liu

Papers

Study of lyotropic liquid crystal in lubrication on aluminum alloy surfaces