Conductivity and tribological properties of IL-PANI/WS2 composite material in lithium complex grease

Abstract

Abstract An ionic liquid-polyaniline/tungsten disulfide (IL-PANI/WS 2 ) composite was synthesized in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazole tetrafluoroborate (LB104) aqueous solution by in-situ polymerization and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A current-carrying friction and wear tester was used to study the tribological properties of steel—steel and copper—copper friction pairs lubricated by an IL-PANI/WS 2 lithium complex grease (LCG). After the experiment, scanning electron microscope was used to observe the surface morphology of the wear scar on the steel and copper plates, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer was used to analyze the elemental composition of the wear scar surface. The results show that compared with greases containing IL-PANI and WS 2 , greases containing IL-PANI/WS 2 exhibit better antiwear performance when lubricating steel—steel friction pairs and better tribological performance and electrical conductivity when lubricating copper—copper friction pairs. Therefore, it can be concluded that WS 2 and IL-PANI have a synergistic effect.