Tribological properties of trimethylolpropane oleate synthesized through esterification reaction with nano-MoS₂ catalysts of different shapes

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the catalytic performance and tribological properties of MoS₂ powder.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, the authors attempted to use MoS₂ nanoparticles (nano-MoS₂) as a catalyst to synthesize trimethylolpropane oleate (TMPTO) by esterification of trimethylolpropane and oleic acid. The small amount of highly dispersed nano-MoS₂ catalyst remaining in TMPTO needed not to be separated and could be used as a lubricant modifier directly to achieve the purpose of improving the lubricity performance of TMPTO.

Findings

The results demonstrated that nano-MoS₂ had good catalytic esterification ability and achieved in situ dispersion of about 0.191% nano-MoS₂ in TMPTO while catalyzing the synthesis of base oil. After high-speed centrifugal sedimentation treatment, the product TMPTO still retained about 0.008% of nano-MoS₂. The above-synthesized TMPTO has significantly better lubricity performance than commercially available TMPTO, in which the friction coefficient and wear rate could be reduced by 75%.

Originality/value

The results of this study provide an idea for the design of catalysts for ester oil synthesis.

Citation

Li, Z., Han, S., Wang, L. and Hu, K. (2023), "Tribological properties of trimethylolpropane oleate synthesized through esterification reaction with nano-MoS₂ catalysts of different shapes", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 75 No. 2, pp. 246-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-09-2022-0281