Polymer and surfactant adsorption to silica surfaces from non-aqueous dispersions

Lubricants are complex formulated products that serve many disparate functions during use, and accordingly, several additives are present. Interactions between these additives can lead to unexpected and undesired behaviour when formulating next generation products. The present work focuses on the identification and characterisation of a model system to provide a mechanistic understanding of such competitive interactions between the additives, both in solution and at the interfaces present in the formulation. Lubricants reduce friction and prevent wear between surfaces in relative motion, perform heat removal, add corrosion protection, transfer of power, provide a liquid seal at moving contacts and suspend/remove wear particles. Lubricant oils are therefore highly complex formulated materials constituted of a base oil (70 to 90%) and additives (30 to 10%).