Novel carbon nanotori additives for lubricants with superior anti-wear and extreme pressure properties

In this work, new lubricants were prepared with carbon nanotori dispersed in distilled water (DW). Carbon nanotori are multi-walled carbon nanoparticles with a toroidal shape. The load-carrying capacity of nanolubricants under extreme pressures (EP) and their anti-wear (AW) properties were characterized. Carbon nanotori demonstrated significant improvements in load-carrying capacity, and excellent anti-wear and friction reducing properties. Load-carrying capacity increased by up to 950% with 2.0 wt%. Wear mass loss and coefficient of friction (COF) were reduced by 96% and 76%, respectively, at the same concentration. These improvements can be attributed to their hollow multi-walled toroidal shape and high elastic modulus that enabled them to withstand the loads of the tests, thus limiting metal-metal contact.