Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

A vast amount of energy is spent to overcome friction, and major economic losses are due to wear of products and components, and their replacement. Considerable savings can be made by improved control of friction, and lubrication is an effective means of controlling wear and reducing friction. Tribology is a multidisciplinary science applied to friction, wear, and lubrication involved at moving contacts. Tribometer is an instrument for measuring the friction/lubricity and the wear of different materials. Since 2012, Grecov has used the Nanovea T50 tribometer with a basic configuration, which was purchased with an NSERC RTI grant. Currently, the applicants are requesting funding to replace the existing tribometer, with a multi-function, Nanovea T100 tribometer. Although still usable for initial evaluations, the T50 tribometer cannot be used for more advanced studies involving all of the main lubrication regimes and it is limited to loads between 2 and 20 N. The existing Nanovea T50 tribometer and replacement parts are no longer being supplied by the Nanovea company, which is offering a trade-in to replace the obsolete model with the T100 version. Grecov's research program, supported by the NSERC Discovery Grant ("Novel applications of nanodispersions in lubrication and bio-lubrication") will be able to proceed with the addition of the T100 tribometer. The research program is expected to lead to advanced, predictive tools to improve the understanding of nano-lubrication mechanisms, and in the long-term, to present new, economically viable, high performance environmentally-friendly nanolubricants for a large number of industrial and biomedical applications. The equipment will also enable Grecov's team to study lubrication with synthetic and vegetable oils added to nanoparticles, such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and graphene oxide (GO) and/or liquid crystals. The new T100 multi-function tribometer will also enable the development of a viscosupplement from hyaluronic acid solution and CNC to treat osteoarthritis (OA), thereby improving the quality of life of OA patients. The requested equipment will enable a collaboration between Grecov and Cranston on the lubrication performance of carboxylated CNCs in aqueous suspension through an NSERC Alliance funded project and an ongoing collaboration with Anomera Inc. and BASF. Additionally, the tribometer will benefit other research partnerships focused on using nanocellulose in place of plastics as microbeads for cosmetics and household cleaning products, and using nanocellulose as stabilizers in gels and emulsions for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products where rheology, tactile perception and lubrication are key performance metrics. Foster's research on the development of a hydrophobic coating from leaf extracts, which could be recrystallized into hollow rods through heat activation, would require the tribological equipment requested here, to test the performance and durability.