Synthesis, Characterization of ZnO-based Nanocomposites and its Effect on the Viscosity of Gasoline Engine Lubricating Oil

This study represents the synthesis, characterization of ZnO nanoparticles and encapsulated composites with MWCNT, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) for the lubricating performance in petrol engine oil. The facile sol-gel process was used to synthesize ZnO and ZnO-based nanocomposites followed by annealing at 500 ºC. ZnO-based nanocomposite samples were prepared by adding different secondary encapsulating agents such as MWCNT (with different wt.% of 1, 2 and 3), SDS and CTAB. The as-synthesized ZnO and ZnO-based nanocomposite samples were further dispersed in 20W40 grade engine oil separately by taking 50 mL volume of oil. Different amounts of the synthesized samples of 50 mg, 100 mg and 150 mg were blended with the lubricant accordingly by the sonication process. After that the viscosity performances were carried out for all the prepared samples. The dynamic and kinematic viscosity were measured using a redwood viscometer and the temperature varied throughout the analysis at 34, 44 and 55 ºC to observe the optimum temperature effect on viscosity performance. The objective of this work is to determine the temperature effects on the viscosity of commercial lubricant 20W40 grade by blending with different suspended novel nanomaterials.