Northwestern University

Dow Corning Corporation

Qatar Foundation

U.S. Army Research Laboratory

Yip-Wah Chung

Qian Jane Wang

Tobin Jay Marks

Massimiliano Delferro

Andreas Stammer

Tracy L Lohr

Yanshan Gao

Thomas J Zolper

Semyon Vaynman

Herbert Stoegbauer

Manfred Jungk

Blake A Johnson

Arman Mohammad Khan

Xingliang He

Michael Desanker

Tobias Vela Martin

David B Pickens, Iii

Scott A Barnett

Jiaxing Huang

Kornel F Ehmann

William D Sproul

Ming-Show Wong

Hassan S Bazzi

Morris E Fine

Xi Chu

Dong Li

Afif M Seyam

Blake Johnson

Danni Jin

Cameron T Gross

Qiang Ma

Zhong Liu

Yao Du

Xu Zhang

Dieter Isheim

Zilin Jiang

Qian Wang

Allan V Mathai

Zaid Ali Subhi Al Hassan

Akio Urakami

Harry D Wise

Evan T Hunt

Stephen Berkebile

Johannes Weertman

Xuan Dou

Yi Shi

Q Jane Wang

Methods of pre-conditioning and lubricating the rubbing surfaces of steel substrates are provided. The methods include a pre-conditioning step in which a hydrocarbon fluid having cycloalkane carboxylic acid additives dispersed therein is used to form a tribofilm on a rubbing surface of a device, following by replacing the pre-conditioning lubricant with a cycloalkane-carboxylic acid-free hydrocarbon lubricant for the regular operation of the device. The tribofilm formed during the pre-conditioning step provides long-term friction and wear reduction at the rubbing surfaces, even after it is replaced, and allows for the subsequent operation of the device without the need to change the composition of the regularly used lubricant.

Surface conditioning with cycloalkane carboxylic acids as additives for wear protection

Methods for forming carbon-based lubricious and/or wear-protective films in situ on the surface of steel alloys are provided. The methods use chromium-containing steel alloys, molybdenum-containing steel alloys, and steel alloys that contain both copper and nickel. When such alloys are subjected to a rubbing motion in the presence of a hydrocarbon fluid, the chromium, molybdenum, copper, and nickel in the steel alloy catalyzes the formation of solid carbon-containing films that reduce the friction, wear, or both of the contacting surfaces.

High-strength steels for the formation of wear-protective lubricious tribofilms directly from hydrocarbon fluids

Low molecular weight, highly branched polyolefins are provided. Also provided are catalyst-mediated methods of making the low molecular weight, highly branched polyolefins and a catalyst system for carrying out the methods. The catalyst system is a homogeneous catalytic system that includes a single-site organozirconium complex and hydrocarbon-soluble perfluoroarylborate co-catalyst that is highly active for the oligomerization of olefin monomers in non-polar media.

Highly branched, low molecular weight polyolefins and methods for their production

A lubricant composition includes a base lubricant and a plurality of lubricant additive molecules functioning as precursor molecules to induce tribopolymerization and forming in situ protective tribofilm with desirable robustness and low shear resistance. Each lubricant additive molecule includes one or more surface-active groups attractable to target surface, and a carbon containing component operable connected to the one or more surface active groups. The carbon containing component comprise a carbon ring structure having a high ring strain that is metastable and activatable with a ring-opening reaction. A less stable carbon ring structure is more readily activated to the intermediate state, preferable to form more active fragments. Increasing the adsorption strength further is beneficial to prolonging the residence time of additive molecules on the target surface, thereby facilitating the dissociation of molecules and subsequent polymerization.

Lubricant compositions, and synthesizing methods and applications of same

In an embodiment, a method of hardening a surface of a substrate comprises directing a waterjet having a transition flow region, the waterjet comprising water and particles, at a surface of a substrate such that the waterjet impacts the surface within the transition flow region to provide a layer of embedded particles underneath the surface of the substrate, thereby forming a hardened substrate. The hardened substrates are also provided.

Surface hardening of substrates by a particle-containing cavitating waterjet

In one aspect of the invention, an alloy includes a first element comprising magnesium (Mg), titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), chromium (Cr), or nickelaluminum (NiAl), a second element comprising lithium (Li), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), aluminum (Al), or a combination thereof, and a third element comprising zinc (Zn). According to the invention, nanoscale precipitates is produced in the magnesium alloy by additions of zinc and specific heat-treatment. These precipitates lower the energy for dislocation movements and increase the number of available slip systems in the magnesium alloy at room temperature and hence improve ductility and formability of the magnesium alloy.

Alloys and methods of forming same

A lubricant composition includes a base lubricant and a plurality of lubricant additive molecules. Each molecule includes a surface active group attractable to a target surface, wherein the surface active group comprises a carboxyl group, a siloxyl group, an amine group, or a mixture thereof, and a carbon containing component connected to the surface active group, wherein the carbon containing component comprises a carbon ring, wherein the surface active group and the carbon containing component are adapted such that the carbon film is formed in situ on the target surface of the target machine only when tribological energy activates the lubricant additive to unravel the carbon containing component under a pressure and a temperature during operation.

Lubricant additives, lubricant compositions, and applications of same

A lubricant composition includes a base lubricant and a plurality of lubricant additive molecules. Each lubricant additive molecule includes a surface active group attractable to a target surface, and a carbon containing component connected to the surface active group, for providing a carbon source to form a carbon film on the target surface. A method for in situ forming of a carbon film using the lubricant composition, includes adding the lubricant composition into a target machine such that the lubricant composition is in contact with a target surface of the target machine, and operating the target machine to cause a temperature and a pressure at the target surface so that the carbon containing component is unraveled thereon to form a carbon film on the target surface during the operation.

Steel compositions are provided. A steel composition may include iron; from 0.015 to 0.06 wt. % carbon; from 9 to 12 wt. % chromium; from 0.75 to 1.5 wt. % manganese; from 0.08 to 0.18 wt. % molybdenum; from 0.10 to 0.30 wt. % silicon; from 0.2 to 1.0 wt. % vanadium; from 0.05 to 1.2 wt. % niobium; and optionally, an amount of an additional precipitate forming alloying element. Methods of making the steel compositions are also provided.

High temperature steel for steam turbine and other applications

A method for forming a lubrication material using self-dispersed crumpled graphene balls as additives in a lubricant base fluid for friction and wear reduction. The lubricant base fluid may be, for example, a polyalphaolefin type-4 (PAO4) oil. After the crumpled graphene balls are added as additives in the lubricant base fluid, the lubricant base fluid with the additives are sonicated for a sonicating time period, so that the crumpled graphene balls are self-dispersed in the lubricant base fluid to improve friction and wear properties of the lubricant base fluid. In some cases, a dispersing agent, such as Triethoxysilane, may be added in the lubricant base fluid to enhance stability of dispersion of the crumpled graphene balls in the lubricant base fluid. The crumpled graphene balls may stay stably dispersed in the lubricant base fluid between a lower temperature (such as &#x2212;15&#xb0; C.) to a higher temperature (such as 90&#xb0; C.).

Lubrication material using self-dispersed crumpled graphene balls as additives in oil for friction and wear reduction

Compositions comprising one or more cyclen compounds which can be structurally modified to affect anti-friction and anti-wear functionality.

Cyclen friction modifiers for boundary lubrication

A method of using lubricant compositions to reduce wear between two surfaces exposed to a load condition of at least 1 GPa is provided. The lubricant compositions comprise polysiloxane base oils having alkylaryl or a combination of alkyl and aryl functionality. The polysiloxane base oils may be defined according to the formula: wherein R, R', and R&#x2033; are independently selected, such that R is an alkyl group having between 1-3 carbon atoms; R&#x2032; is an alkylaryl group comprising alkyl functionality with 3-12 carbon atoms and aryl functionality with 6 to 12 carbon atoms; R&#x2033; is an alkyl group having between 1-3 carbon atoms or an alkylaryl group comprising alkyl functionality with 3-12 carbon atoms and aryl functionality with 6 to 12 carbon atoms; and m and n are integers, such that 8&#x3c;(m+n)&#x3c;500.

Method of reducing friction and wear between surfaces under a high load condition

Lubricant additives useful as friction reducing additives are disclosed herein that have a structure according to general formula I, where M is metal such as Ag, Au, Zn or Cu, and R, R, and R, are each a hydrogen, or an alkyl, a substituted alkyl, or an aryl group.

Lubricant additives

A method of using energy-efficient lubricant compositions to reduce wear between two surfaces exposed to a high shear condition is provided. The lubricant compositions comprise polysiloxane base oils having alkyl, aryl, or a combination of alkyl and aryl functionality. The polysiloxane base oils may be defined according to the formula: wherein R, and R' are independently selected, such that R is an alkyl group having between 1-3 carbon atoms; R&#x2032; is an alkyl or aryl group having between 6 to 20 carbon atoms; and m and n are integers, such that 25&#x3c;(m+n)&#x3c;500 and the ratio of m/(m+n) is greater than 0.05 and less than 1.00.

Energy efficient, temporary shear thinning siloxane lubricants and method of using

Growing community of inventors

Wilmette, IL, United States of America

Yip-Wah Chung