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Molecular design of hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent lubricants for high load capacity and low friction in ball-screw pairs
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DOI：10.1016/j.susmat.2026.e02184.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
As core components of precision transmission systems, ball-screw pairs face the fundamental trade-off of balancing high load-carrying capacity with low friction. Conventional strategies typically rely on increasing lubricant viscosity to enhance load capacity. However, this approach induces severe viscous shearing during high-speed operations, leading to substantial energy dissipation and thermally induced degradation of transmission accuracy. Accordingly, this study synthesized a series of naturally derived hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) using menthol (hydrogen-bond acceptor, HBA) and thymol or carvacrol (hydrogen-bond donor, HBD), aiming to develop novel lubricants that couple high load-carrying capacity with low shear resistance. Tribological experiments demonstrate that these hydrophobic DESs maintain low coefficients of friction and reduced wear volumes, even under an extreme contact pressure of 3.75 GPa. Mechanistic analyses reveal that reduced molecular steric hindrance, higher phenolic hydroxyl activity, and specific component ratios are pivotal for the formation of robust physically adsorbed films. Furthermore, their inherent hydrophobicity effectively mitigates the water-sensitivity issues commonly associated with traditional DES formulations. Finally, friction torque tests confirm that the proposed DESs maintain a markedly reduced and highly stable friction torque during ball-screw operation, demonstrating excellent low-friction performance. In summary, these naturally derived and stable DESs effectively address the trade-off between high load-carrying capacity and low shear, paving new avenues for the design of next-generation sustainable tribological materials.
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