Behaviour of Corrosion Inhibitors Under Different Tribological Contact

Additives in lubrication technology perform by physically or chemically adsorbed films on tribological surfaces. In water lubricated tribosystems when the environment is very corrosive the additives effect is especially important. Typically applied corrosion inhibitors neutralize pH of contaminants in the fluid. Ethanolamines and ethylamines are known as ligands which can form chelate bonds with metals via their amino, hydroxyl and deprotonated hydroxyl groups. In tribology they are widely accepted, as corrosion inhibitors and detergents especially for water-based lubricants. This study inquires static corrosion behaviour of the solution as well as tribological performance in two types of tribotesters which represent different contact situations. Understanding the performance of the first chemisorbed layers of additives on the work piece yields important information for the optimization of lubrication in aqueous solutions. The structure of the adsorbed compounds based on amines on the tribological surfaces was studied with usage of angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS). Analysis of the ARXPS results was performed using stratification method, which provides information of the depth and relative amount of each element in each layer. The experimental results were compared with simulations performed with simulation of electron spectra for surface analysis software. The objective was to confirm the accuracy of the performed analysis.