Anchor Group Bottlebrush Polymers as Oil Additive Friction Modifiers

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c12628
• Publication Date: 2023-10-09T13:29:12Z
• Authors: Andrew Kerr; Satu Häkkinen; Stephen C. L. Hall; Paul Kirkman; Paul O’Hora; Timothy Smith; Christian J. Kinane; Andrew Caruana; Sébastien Perrier
• Keywords: Neutron reflectometry; Polymer architecture

Surface-tethered polymers have been shown to be an efficient lubrication strategy for boundary and mixed by providing a solvated film between solid surfaces. We assessed the performance of various graft copolymers as friction modifier additives in oil revealed important structure-property relationships this application. The consisted oil-soluble, grafted poly(lauryl acrylate) segment polar, linear poly(4-acryloylmorpholine) anchor group. Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization was used access architectures with control grafting density position Macrotribological studies displayed promising results ≈50% reduction coefficient at low polymer treatment rates. QCM-D experiments, neutron reflectometry, small-angle scattering, atomic force microscopy were gather detailed information on these polymers' surface adsorption characteristics, structure, solution behavior.