Tribological behaviors of three novel imidazoline-type thiadiazole derivatives as multifunctional lubricant additives in biodegradable lithium grease

Three novel imidazoline-type thiadiazole derivatives are prepared and used as antiwear and extreme-pressure additives in biodegradable lithium grease, and their tribological performances are evaluated using a four-ball tester. Tribological tests show that all derivatives are effective in reducing wear, especially at lower additive concentrations. Oleic acid-imidazoline-type thiadiazole derivative is a preferred additive to reduce wear. For the friction-reducing property of base grease, improvements after using these derivatives are not remarkable. On the other hand, these derivatives are also effective extreme-pressure additives. In order to understand the friction process further, chemical composition of tribofilms under antiwear/extreme-pressure regime is analyzed by X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy, and thermal films are also considered for comparison. Thermal films formed by these imidazoline-type thiadiazole derivatives consist of adsorbed organic sulfide and ferrous sulfide. Sulfur ...