Síntese de nanopartículas por sputtering em biolubrificantes para aplicações em turbinas eólicas

Abstract

Gears and other mechanical assemblies are very important for the conversion of wind energy into electrical energy in wind turbines, but their durability and efficiency are severely hampered by some tribological issues such as corrosion, wear, deformation and fragmentation. The lubricants used to reduce this wear and deformation is from non-renewable sources and may not be environmentally viable. Thus, new technologies appear that aim at the development of renewable products replacing mineral oil and extreme pressure additive. In this regard, vegetable oils and new inorganic additives are being researched as a suitable alternative to replace the lubricants currently used in wind turbine gears. The objective of this work is to synthesize inorganic nanoparticles in vegetable oils by sputtering to obtain stable colloidal nanoparticles (NPs), developing lubricants more adapted to the environment with more efficient additives, with a better level of tribological performance. The applied methodology is divided in 5 steps: 1- preparation of the biolubrificante (epoxidized sunflower oil); 2- physico-chemical characterization of the lubricants; 3- deposition of the nanoparticles by sputtering; 4 - characterization of the dispersion and 5 tribological evaluations. In the depositions three discharge current levels (30 mA- 0.8 Å / s, 40 mA- 1.3 Å / s and 50 mA- 1.51 Å / s) and three deposition rates were used to obtain three different concentrations by weight of nanoparticles (0,05%, 0,1 % and 0,3%) and with Cu target to obtain copper nanoparticles. The nanoparticle formed was characterized as a function of the particle size by the SAXS technique and a sample by SEM. The dispersion of the nanoparticles was analyzed by Uv-Visible, Polydispersivity, Zeta Potential and SAXS. To evaluate the tribological performance was used the HFRR trbometer. The results showed that the biolubrificants with additives had good performace, improved wear and reduced friction on metal surfaces. In addition, this method of preparing the nanobiolubrifier eliminated the dispersion problem ascertained by other dispersion techniques.