Tribological Analysis of Biodegradable Refrigeration oil for Vapour Compression Refrigeration System using Four Ball Tribometer

The purpose of this investigation is to accomplish the experimental study of rapeseed oil-based TMP (trimethylolpropane) ester as biodegradable refrigeration oil and correlate with synthetic refrigeration oil using the four ball tribometer. The biodegradable refrigeration oil is produced from rapeseed oil, which is biodegradable and has high lubricity properties such as a higher flash point temperature and VI (viscosity index).The friction and wear experiments of biodegradable refrigeration oil were performed using ASTM D 5183 and ASTM D2783. The surface morphology analysis of tested ball materials was also carried out using scanning electron microscope. The results show that on the similar experimental conditions, biodegradable refrigeration oil exhibited good friction reduction behaviour and wear reduction behaviour up to 50kg as compared to synthetic refrigeration oil. The friction coefficient has minimum value biodegradable refrigeration oil for 10kg and 50kg, maximum for 100 kg. The last non-seizure load and the weld load for biodegradable refrigeration oil are 40 kg and 126 kg respectively and last non-seizure load and the weld load for synthetic refrigeration oil are 50 kg and 160 kg. However, biodegradable refrigeration oil is eco friendly, can be encouraged for an alternative for commercial refrigeration lubricant.