Boric acid as a lubricating additive in fuels and in hydraulic oils

Abstract: Boric acid based fuel and oil additives were investigated in this study, with the aims to gain a deeper understanding of how the boric acid fuel additive behaves, to investigate the effect of low rates of fuel additive addition and tribofilm longevity, and to investigate how boric acid behaves as a hydraulic oil additive. Fuel additive experiments were performed in a reciprocating sliding rig with a cylinder on flat contact geometry with fuel additive sprayed on the contact repeatedly, whereas the hydraulic oil experiments were performed in a reciprocating sliding rig with a ball on flat contact with the oil and additive present from the start. Analysis was performed using vertical scanning interferometry (VSI), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The tribofilms created by the fuel additive provided excellent friction reduction capabilities, even with low or no rate of replenishment. As more additive was sprayed, wear resistance seemed to increase as the surface became increasingly covered. Film coverage need to be less than 20% of the surface in order to gain full friction reducing effects. The hydraulic oil additive had little effect on friction or wear resistance under the used parameters and no tribofilm was found.