A model for tribofilm growth is developed. The model is used in combination with numerical contact mechanics tools to enable evaluation of the combined effects of chemistry and contact mechanics. The model is tuned with experimental data and is thereafter applied to rough surfaces. The growth of the tribofilm is evaluated for 3 different contact cases and short-term tribofilm growth behaviour is analyzed. The results show how tribofilms grow in patches. The model is expected to be used as a tool for analysis of the interaction between rough surfaces.
The Graduate School of Space Technology
We frequently find “EAL” (environmentally acceptable lubricant or relevant such as “environmentally friendly,” “environmentally adapted,” “environmental benign,” “biodegradable,” “ecological,” “green,” in the title and keywords of tribology papers. It intimates "something good for environment" and may catch the readers' attention. However, one might feel unease because the definition of these terms is unclear. These terms are too loosely used with the authors’ satisfaction in most cases. Of course, lubrication engineering contributes to protect global environment by improving energy efficiency and prolonging machine life through reducing friction and wear. In this regard, lubrication itself is definitely one of the “green” technologies. This led a simple question – why adjectives such as “environmental” are used with lubrication? The unrivalled reference book in tribology defines “environmentally friendly lubricants” as “readily biodegradable in nature” [1]. We agree with it, but shall ask "is biodegradability enough for protection of global environment?" This motivated us to propose unambiguous criteria for EAL.
The degradation mechanism of water contaminated Automatic Transmission Fluids (ATF) was experimentally investigated. Water contaminated ATF was tribotested in a full-scale wet clutch test rig to monitor the friction durability during clutch ageing, and was also statically aged in oven to evaluate the interaction of ATF with water. The bulk properties and chemical nature of the ATF were analysed using viscosity measurements, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). It was shown that water presence in the ATF can increase the mean friction coefficient over a short time period, though in the long term perspective there is a higher loss of mean friction. Phase separation of the water-in-oil emulsion by centrifugation at 20000 rpm made it possible to examine the water phase using infrared 2spectroscopy. The spectroscopic analysis revealed the hydrophilic nature of certain ATF constituents, although the impact of water on the bulk properties like lubricant viscosity and thermal stability was insignificant. The analysis of the tribotests showed that the friction increase for water contamination was a short-term effect and likely due to the interaction between polar surface active additives and water. Even though no significant change has been found for thermal degradation or in bulk properties of the lubricant, the initially changed action of the water soluble additives and generation of high friction resulted in a total deterioration of the clutch performance during long term use.
Usually the wet clutch lubricant properties vary with different formulations of base oil types and additives. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of water on the performance of additives in ATF. Simplified lubricants, ZDDP and over-based Ca-sulfonates detergent additives in an API Group I mineral base oil, were employed to compare with the commercial fully-formulated automatic transmission fluid (DEXRON®VI) during water-contamination. A full-scale wet clutch test rig was used to evaluate the frictional response due to water contamination of the lubricants. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was utilized to evaluate the variation in the solubility of these polar organic additives in the water phase and Karl-Fischer titration was utilized to evaluate the post-test water content for different formulations.
Stable friction and positive slope of friction-speed is the typical criterion for a good clutch performance. Lubricated friction interfaces used for wet clutches produces different friction behavior depending on the lubricant conditions. Usually the lubricant conditions vary for different automatic transmission fluid (ATF) formulations implying e.g. water contamination and these conditions might influence the deterioration of the clutch plates. The aim of this paper is to verify additive adsorption on friction interfaces and ageing of the friction material in wet clutch system for a water contaminated commercial ATF (DEXRON® VI). Standard clutch plates are employed in an automated wet clutch test rig to evaluate the friction characteristics of the tested lubricant. For controlled test conditions (speed, contact pressure, oil temperature) and specific number of test cycles, the mean friction coefficient and the friction vs. speed relations are monitored during sliding test. The resultant tribofilms on the tested friction interface surfaces are characterized by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM- EDS), Attenuated Total Reflectance -Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS analysis). The spectroscopic techniques were used to analyse adsorbed additives on friction interfaces and made it possible to correlate measured data to the specific friction behavior obtained after water contamination of the ATF.
Lubricated friction interfaces used for wet clutches produces different friction behaviour depending on the lubricant conditions. Usually the lubricant conditions vary for water contamination in automatic transmission fluid (ATF). The presence of water retards the ATF performance by increasing the friction and can influence the deterioration of the clutch plates. Water as a polar contaminant can change the absorbability of the surface active additives, which might cause the characteristic friction behaviour. The aim of this paper is to verify the surface chemistry of tribotested standard friction interfaces lubricated with water contaminated commercial ATF (DEXRON® VI). The evidences of the influence of water on ATF performances were shown by surface analyses
Lubricant performance is vital as heavy-duty gear manufacturers increase power density in their efforts towards increased efficiency. In this work, a recently developed ionic liquid is introduced as a multifunction additive for use in hydrocarbon base fluid. A ball-on-disc tribological test machine was used to evaluate friction and wear in heavily loaded mixed rolling/sliding conditions. The novel multifunctional additive is benchmarked against conventional axle-gear oil additives, and results shows excellent tribological performance in terms of friction and wear. Post-test surface analysis of the wear scars revealed a silicate based tribofilm derived from the novel ionic additive, contrary to conventional phosphorous and/or sulfur based. The silicate tribofilm is correlated to a significantly increased wear resistance and vastly improved running-in performance.
This review aims at introducing an engineering field of lubrication to researchers who are not familiar with tribology, thereby emphasizing the importance of lubricant chemistry in applied science. It provides initial guidance regarding additive chemistry in lubrication systems for researchers with different backgrounds. The readers will be introduced to molecular sciences underlying lubrication engineering. Currently, lubricant chemistry, especially "additive technology", looks like a very complicated field. It seems that scientific information is not always shared by researchers. The cause of this is that lubrication engineering is based on empirical methods and focuses on market requirements. In this regard, engineering knowhow is held by individuals and is not being disclosed to scientific communities. Under these circumstances, a bird's-eye view of lubricant chemistry in scientific words is necessary. The novelty of this review is to concisely explain the whole picture of additive technology in chemical terms. The roles and functions of additives as the leading actors in lubrication systems are highlighted within the scope of molecular science. First, I give an overview of the fundamental lubrication model and the role of lubricants in machine operations. The existing additives are categorized by the role and work mechanism in lubrication system. Examples of additives are shown with representative molecular structure. The second half of this review explains the scientific background of the lubrication engineering. It includes interactions of different components in lubrication systems. Finally, this review predicts the technical trends in lubricant chemistry and requirements in molecular science. This review does not aim to be a comprehensive chart or present manufacturing knowhow in lubrication engineering. References were carefully selected and cited to extract "the most common opinion" in lubricant chemistry and therefore many engineering articles were omitted for conciseness
31P-NMR is a useful tool for identifying and monitoring phosphorous-containing additives. 31P is an NMR active and 100% natural abundance isotope, implying that even a small amount of phosphorus-containing compounds can be detected by NMR. A discussion covers the application of NMR in particular for tribological purpose; and example, illustrating the use of 31P-NMR for tracing zinc bis(dialkyldithiophosphate) in lubricant maintenance. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the Society of Tribologists & Lubrication Engineers Annual Meeting and Exhibition 2012 (St. Louis, MO, 5/6-10/2012).
New tribo-systems composed of green chemicals have been investigated. Compatibility of friction modifiers with DLC was evaluated by using SRV test machine. A Zn-free lubricant formulation showed a steady-state friction coefficient of 0.15 for steel/steel contact. Hydrogenated DLC coating showed similar tribological properties when slid against steel. Interestingly, this lubricant showed low friction coefficient of 0.02 for hydrogen-free amorphous DLC when slid against steel. A model friction modifier improved the running-in performance and reduced wear for hydrogen-free DLC, while it marginally increased steady-state friction coefficient up to 0.04. The importance of material–lubricant combination and lubrication model has been highlighted
The tribological properties of halogen-free ionic liquids, tricyanomethanide [C(CN)3−] salt, tetracyanoborate [B(CN)4−] salts, and N-alkylimidazole-trialkylborane complexes were evaluated by laboratory tribo-testing of steel–steel contact under boundary conditions. Tricyanomethanide salt is composed of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. The other two types of liquids are composed of hydrogen, boron, carbon, and nitrogen. They are free of halogens and heavier elements that are components of common ionic liquids, such as fluorine, phosphorus, and sulphur. As expected, the halogen-free ionic liquids exhibited low corrosion properties to steel. When evaluated as neat liquid, these halogen-free ionic liquids provided less tribological properties in comparison with a reference, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide. Tributylmethylphosphonium dimethylphosphate was examined as a prototype tribo-improving additive. It improved the wear-preventing properties and friction reducing properties of tetracyanoborate salts by 10–25% and 20–30% at a concentration of 10 mM (620 ppm of phosphorus), respectively. The additive performances for tricyanomethanide salt and the imidazole-trialkylborane complexes were not uniform under these conditions. Boron oxide and iron oxides were found by surface analysis of rubbed surfaces with tetracyanoborate salts.
Room temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) are increasingly being studied as advanced lubricants due to inherent properties such as thermal stability, low volatility, and non-flammability. While traditional lubricants are being optimized by additive technology, researched RTILs have generally been additive-free due to a lack of miscible additives. Recently, new RTILs have been designed for improved solvency of synthetic lubricant additives. In this work, RTIL samples based on tetralkylphosphonium cations have been evaluated. They are halogen-free and hydrophobic to minimize corrosion. Five RTILs were evaluated in a steel-steel tribotest where the results showed excellent tribological performance for RTILs with friction modifying and anti-wear additives designed for synthetic lubricants. These novel RTILs combined with additives demonstrate high potential as advanced lubricants due to their persistent nature in combination with excellent tribological performance.
Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have interesting properties such as thermal stability, low volatility, and non-flammability. Most research on RTIL lubricants regard RTILs composed of fluorine-containing anions. In metal-metal contacts, these fluids form boundary films of iron fluoride which reduces friction and wear to some extent, but on the other hand cause corrosion under humid conditions. Additives are one way of improving RTIL performance, however; most additives are designed for conventional petroleum base oils, and are therefore hardly miscible with RTILs. In order to improve the performance of RTILs, halogen-free and additive compatible RTILs have recently been developed as potential base oils for advanced lubricants. In this work, RTILs based on phosphonium cations and silylalkyl-sulfonate anions have been evaluated. These fluids are halogen-free and hydrophobic, showing good results in Cu-corrosion testing. Five RTILs, prepared from different anion-cation combinations, were evaluated in steel-steel tribotest. Compared as neat fluids, the RTILs performed superior to perfluoropolyether (PFPE) -based reference lubricant in terms of wear and friction reduction. In the attached figure, it can be seen that the mean friction coefficient is significantly lower for the neat RTIL samples at both 100 and 150 N. Regarding wear volume; the results show that the investigated RTILs produce better protection against wear and are robust to increased load. The tribological performance of RTILs is further improved when adding friction modifying and anti-wear agents designed for synthetic lubricants. This excellent tribological performance, in combination with the inherently persistent nature of ionic liquids demonstrates the high potential as advanced lubricants for these novel RTILs.
Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have several properties which make them interesting candidates as base fluids for extreme conditions. However, a lack of compatibility with tribo-improving additives combined with an often overly aggressive nature is limiting their use as base fluids. To overcome these drawbacks, hydrocarbon-imitating RTIL base fluids have recently been developed. These lubricants aim for a more balanced interaction with metal surfaces while enabling compatibility with common additives, so that the reactivity with the lubricated surface can be tuned in a manner similar to hydrocarbon base oil–additive systems. In this work, the effects of several common additives in the novel RTIL were examined by laboratory tribotesting. Surface analysis was performed in order to study the lubrication mechanisms.
Ionic liquids have properties that are very useful in high performance lubricants. However, they must be well tuned to the tribological system. Hydrocarbon-mimicking ionic liquids have been developed in an effort to overcome some of the compatibility problems that are holding back the use of ionic liquids in tribology. In this work, hydrocarbon-mimicking ionic liquids are evaluated as base fluids in steel-steel reciprocating tribotests. Wear and friction reducing boundary films are formed and found to be composed mainly of Si and O. An amine additive is found to stimulate the formation of this boundary film.
Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have several properties that make them interesting candidates as base fluids for extreme conditions. However, a lack of compatibility with tribo-improving additives combined with an often overly aggressive nature is limiting their use as base fluids. To overcome these drawbacks, hydrocarbon-imitating RTIL base fluids have recently been developed. In this study, the effects of several common additives in the novel RTIL (P-SiSO) were examined by laboratory tribotesting. A reciprocating steel-steel ball-on-flat setup in an air atmosphere was used, where the lubricant performance was evaluated over a range of loads and temperatures. Surface analyses after testing were carried out using optical profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Neat P-SiSO displayed high performance in the tribotests. At an elevated load and temperature, a shift in lubrication mode was observed with an accompanying increase in friction and wear. Surface analysis revealed a boundary film rich in Si and O in the primary lubrication mode, while P was detected after a shift to the secondary lubrication mode. An amine additive was effective in reducing wear and friction under harsh conditions. The amine was determined to increase formation of the protective Si–O film, presumably by enhancing the anion activity.
This paper describes the molecular design and tribological evaluation of novel room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) lubricants{,} abbreviated as P-SiSOs. The RTILs are designed to mimic hydrocarbons{,} in order to ensure their compatibility with existing tribosystems as well as enable use of conventional additives. Steel-on-steel ball-on-flat reciprocating tribotests performed under atmospheric conditions show that the neat P-SiSOs exhibit favorable performances{,} resulting in friction and wear significantly lower than those in the case of the perfluoropolyether lubricants used as references. Tribotests performed at elevated loads and temperatures indicate the formation of friction-reducing boundary films of the neat P-SiSOs. The tribological performance of the P-SiSO is improved further by the incorporation of additives conventionally used in hydrocarbon oils. When used in a concentration of 5 wt%{,} the additives glycerol monooleate{,} dibenzyl disulfide{,} and oleylamine improve the tribological characteristics of P-SiSO. These results indicate that molecular-designed hydrocarbon-mimicking RTIL lubricants can exhibit suitable performances in the neat form and that their performances can be improved further by using conventional additives{,} as in the case of hydrocarbon base oil-additive systems.
Modern space exploration missions, such as planetary exploration of Mars, have significantly different tribological concerns compared to conditions faced by mechanical devices in satellites. Space lubricants have traditionally implied extremely low vapor pressure, but limited performance in boundary lubrication. Mars devices on the other hand are subjected to heavier loads, while operating in an atmosphere composed of CO2 at <1 kPa. Ionic liquids are synthetic fluids with inherently low vapor pressure that are known to readily form boundary films under severe conditions. In an effort to improve the tribological performance of ILs, hydrocarbon-mimicking ionic liquids have recently been designed. This recent work has displayed significantly improved lubrication performance for steel – steel tribo-systems in air, compared to PFPEs or fluorine-based ILs. Also, as a consequence of the hydrocarbon-mimicking structure, compatibility with several conventional tribo-improving additives have been displayed. In this work, we evaluate these novel fluids in a reduced oxygen environment under boundary lubricated conditions to evaluate the effect of oxygen supply on boundary film formation.
Modern space exploration missions, such as planetary exploration of Mars, have significantly different tribological concerns compared to conditions faced by mechanical devices in satellites. Space lubricants have traditionally implied extremely low vapor pressure, but limited performance in boundary lubrication. Mars devices on the other hand are subjected to heavier loads, while operating in an atmosphere composed of CO2 at <1 kPa. Ionic liquids are synthetic fluids with inherently low vapor pressure that are known to readily form boundary films under severe conditions. In our recent work, an ionic liquid designed as lubricant base fluid formed highly effective boundary films composed of silicate when evaluated in air. These boundary films include oxygen, which can possibly be supplied by the atmosphere or by the lubricant itself. In this work, we employ tribotesting in CO2, and N2, and perform surface analysis to evaluate the effect of oxygen supply on boundary film formation.
Five different anti-wear additives, suitable to formulate environmentally adapted hydraulic fluids, were tested. The used base fluid was a saturated, environmentally adapted synthetic complex ester. The tested materials were steel-steel and bronze-steel. A modified Falex pin and a vee-block tester were used for the tribotests. XPS was used to characterize the surfaces. It was found that the new types of more polar additives work better than the traditional ones, though they can give selective transfer of cupper to the steel pin. To use this type of additives in fully formulated products more investigations have to be performed.
Five different anti-wear additives, suitable for the formulation of environmentally adapted hydraulic fluids were tested, both commercially available and newly developed. The used base fluid was a high performance saturated complex ester. The formulated fluids' performance was evaluated through the use of an assembled pin & vee block in a modified Falex wear tester according to wear and frictional behaviour. The combinations of tested materials were steel-steel and bronze-steel tribopairs. The friction, wear scar volume and visual appearance both inside and outside the wear scar were studied. Some of the tested combinations gave unwanted performance, such as high friction, large wear and etching damages, whereas others gave good performance. It was found that the new additives showed promising results for formulation of environmentally adapted lubricants based on saturated complex esters. Further investigations will look closer at the chemical composition of the formed tribofilms with the use of surface sensitive analysis technology.
The present work shows a novel method for generating in-situ low friction tribofilms containing tungsten disulphide in lubricated contacts using diallyl disulphide as sulphur precursor. The approach relies on the tribo-chemical interaction between the diallyl disulphide and a surface containing embedded sub-micrometer tungsten carbide particles. The results show that upon sliding contact between diallyl disulphide and the tungsten-containing surface, the coefficient of friction drops to values below 0.05 after an induction period. The reason for the reduction in friction is due to tribo-chemical reactions that leads to the in-situ formation of a complex tribofilm that contains iron and tungsten components. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicate the presence of tungsten disulphide at the contact interface, thus justifying the low coefficient of friction achieved during the sliding experiments. It was proven that the low friction tribofilms can only be formed by the coexistence of tungsten and sulphur species, thus highlighting the synergy between diallyl disulphide and the tungsten-containing surface. The concept of functionalizing surfaces to react with specific additives opens up a wide range of possibilities, which allows tuning on-site surfaces to target additive interactions.
This work presents a novel method for generating in-situ low friction tribofilms in lubricated contacts using α-amino acid L-methionine as additive. Methionine is an environmentally acceptable natural organosulphur compound that is typically used in food industry. Our approach relies in the use of steel surfaces functionalized with tungsten carbide particles that are tailored to interact with methionine via a tribo-chemical reaction. The results show that after an induction period, the friction drops dramatically by 60% down to values of 0.06 when methionine was used as additive in lubricated tungsten carbide functionalized surfaces. The low friction could only be achieved by the coexistence of tungsten from the functionalized surfaces and sulphur from methionine, which led to the presence of tribo-chemically generated tribofilms. Ab-initio simulations indicate that the tribo-chemical reaction for forming tungsten disulphide is energetically favourable, thus attributing the observed friction reduction mechanism to the in-situ formation of this compound during the sliding process. The concept of functionalizing surfaces to react with specific additives opens up a wide range of possibilities, which allows tuning surfaces to target specific additive interactions. This synergy can be exploited for using novel green additive technology, thus allowing more environmentally friendly formulations with outstanding tribological performance.
Running-in is an important process for elasto-hydrodynamic lubricated contacts, which affect both service life and operating performance. However, the possibilities of monitoring running-in are still poor. Therefore, the properties of electrical contact impedance as a monitoring tool were studied by using an in-house made ball on disc apparatus. The contact impedance was monitored during run-in experiments with different initial surface roughness of the discs, different slide-to-roll ratios and with pure or additive containing paraffinic oil. The relationship between surface roughness parameters, contact resistance and contact capacitance was investigated. While the contact resistance seems to be affected by the parameter Rz, the contact capacitance seems more dependent on Rq. In addition, the experiments showed that surface active additives do not necessarily need to influence the contact impedance.
The present work evaluates different materials and surface finish in the presence of newly designed, hydrophobic halogen-free room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as lubricants. A reciprocating tribo-tester was employed with steel-ceramic and steel-thermosetting epoxy resin contacts under boundary lubrication conditions. Four different tetraalkylphosphonium organosilanesulfonate RTILs provided excellent lubricating performance, with friction coefficients as low as 0.057, and non-measurable wear for the higher roughness machine-finish stainless steel flat against sapphire balls, in the case of the lubricants containing the 2-trimethylsilylethanesulfonate anion. Higher friction coefficients of the order of 0.1 and wear volumes of the order of 10-4 mm3, were observed for the lower roughness fine-finished flat stainless steel surface. All RTILs prevent wear of epoxy resin against stainless steel balls, with friction coefficients in the range of 0.03-0.06. EDX analysis shows the presence of RTILs on the stainless steel surfaces after the tribological tests. Under the experimental conditions, no corrosive processes were observed.
In this paper, the boundary and elastohydrodynamic lubricating behaviour of glycerol and its aqueous solutions are discussed in both rolling and sliding contacts with a view on assessing the use of glycerol as a green lubricant. To understand the lubricating mechanism, the film thickness of glycerol and its aqueous solutions were studied at different velocities. The results show that the viscosity of glycerol can be controlled for a wide range by adding different amounts of water. The lubricating behaviour of glycerol in all lubricating regimes can be improved by adding water. The results suggest that glycerol aqueous solutions have great potential to replace rapeseed oils as environmentally friendly base oils in several applications.
The assessment of ionic liquids (ILs) as lubricants in several tribological systems has shown their ability to provide remarkable reduced friction and protection against wear, whether they are used as additives or in the neat form. However, their corrosion and limited solubility in non-polar hydrocarbon oils represent the bottleneck-limiting factors for the use of ILs as lubricants. Therefore, in order to tackle these problems, mixtures of alkylborane-imidazole complexes with one halogen-free IL as additive were used in this study. The knowledge of the additive-surface interactions and hence the understanding of tribological properties are an important issue for lubricant formulations and were also investigated in this work. Thus, combination effects between two ionic liquid additives, a halogenated and a halogen-free one, were evaluated by a ball-on-disc-type tribometer under boundary lubrication conditions. Effective friction reduction and anti-wear properties have been demonstrated in tribological investigations when adding between 0.7 and 3.4 wt% of the halogen-free IL into base fluid composed of alkylborane-imidazole complexes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of the steel specimens were conducted to study the correlation between tribological properties and chemical surface composition of the boundary films formed on the rubbing surface. This work suggests potential applications for using halogen-free ILs as additives for synthetic ionic liquid lubricants
Heat generation by friction during machine operation causes thermo-oxidative degradation and evaporation of lubricants which in turn generates volatiles. Therefore, having an excellent thermo-oxidative stability is one of the desired prerequisites for the applicability of lubricants in tribological systems. This study reports new insights regarding the thermo-oxidative stability of halogen-free room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as well as fundamental changes in the tribofilm's composition that have a positive impact on their tribological performance at elevated temperatures. In this context, the formation of binary iron phosphates/phosphides based tribofilms from a phosphonium phosphate-based RTIL has been reported for the first time. This RTIL significantly enhances both thermo-oxidative stability and tribological performance of alkylborane–imidazole complexes. A beneficial effect between this RTIL and a conventional friction modifier led to enhanced anti-wear properties supported by the presence of iron phosphide/phosphate tribofilms on the disc surfaces, as detected by XPS.
The role of surface protective additives becomes vital when operating conditionsbecome severe and moving components operate in a boundary lubrication regime. Afterprotecting film is slowly removed by rubbing, it can regenerate through the tribochemicalreaction of the additives at the contact. However, there are limitations about theregeneration of the protecting film when additives are totally consumed. On the other hand,there are a lot of hard coatings to protect the steel surface from wear. These can enable thefunctioning of tribological systems, even in adverse lubrication conditions. However, hardcoatings usually make the friction coefficient higher, because of their high interfacial shearstrength. Amongst hard coatings, diamond-like carbon (DLC) is widely used, because of itsrelatively low friction and superior wear resistance. In practice, conventional lubricantsthat are essentially formulated for a steel/steel surface are still used for lubricating machinecomponent surfaces provided with protective coatings, such as DLCs, despite the fact thatthe surface properties of coatings are quite different from those of steel. It is thereforeimportant that the design of additive molecules and their interaction with coatingsshould be re-considered. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the DLC and theadditive combination that enable tribofilm formation and effective lubrication oftribological systems.