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A compounding-model comprising back propagation neural network and genetic algorithm for performance prediction of bio-based lubricant blending with functional additives

Tong Yu (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China)
Peng Yin (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China)
Wei Zhang (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China)
Yanliang Song (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China)
Xu Zhang (Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China)

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

ISSN: 0036-8792

Article publication date: 2 October 2020

Issue publication date: 4 March 2021

186

Abstract

Purpose

The amount, type and addition conditions of additives of lubricants should be continuously adjusted to obtain appealing performance. To obtain the optimal pretreatment parameters and reduce the cost of time-consuming experiments, the purpose of this paper is to establish an optimal back propagation neural network (BPNN) model combined with genetic algorithm (GA) in this work.

Design/methodology/approach

Using trimethylolpropane trioleate as the base oil and three types of phosphorus compounds as additives, 25 sets of lubricant formulas were designed regarding lubricant performances of average friction coefficient, average spot diameter, disk wear volume and extreme pressure. The data set was used for training and learning of BPNN and then combined with GA to optimize BPNN with continuously optimization by adjusting various parameters.

Findings

Comparing prediction data of BPNN with actual test data, correlation coefficients were above 90%, indicating that the model could accurately predict the performance of lubricants. When combined with GA, all performance errors were less than 5%, indicating that BPNN could be optimized by GA to obtain an accurate combined model for prediction of lubricant performance. The best additive formula with excellent performances was obtained from the BPNN–GA model.

Originality/value

This work developed a new method to study lubricant compounding. The combined model was expected to provide a theoretical basis and guidance for the compounding optimization of lubricant additives with high efficiency and low cost and to expand the scope to practical applications.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2020-0165/

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their thanks for the supports from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFB0306800) and Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation (B13005).

Citation

Yu, T., Yin, P., Zhang, W., Song, Y. and Zhang, X. (2021), "A compounding-model comprising back propagation neural network and genetic algorithm for performance prediction of bio-based lubricant blending with functional additives", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 73 No. 2, pp. 246-252. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-05-2020-0165

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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