Investigation of the anti-wear properties of nano additives on sliding bearings of internal combustion engines

This study investigated anti-wear properties of SAE-20W50 engine oil, containing fullerene spherical nanoparticles, carbon nano balls and vanadium oxide nanotubes. Three kinds of wear tests including four-ball test, pin on disc test and engine tribo-test were done on base oil and nano lubricants, which were made at 0.1%wt concentration. The results obtained from four-ball standard tests indicated 5–15% reduction in rate of wear in nano lubricants. In addition, the results of pin on disc and engine tests on sliding bearings showed that the amount of wear and surface quality of bearings in nano lubricants with respect to the base oil considerably improved.