Fundamental Study of the Initial Agglomeration of Lithium Soap Thickener in Lubricating Oil
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Fundamental study of the initial agglomeration of lithium soap thickener in lubricating oil Paul Shiller1, Nikhil Prasad1, and Gary Doll1 1The University of Akron Contents 1 Introduction 4 1.1 How does the grease thickener structure form? . 5 1.2 Model of grease bleed? . 6 1.3 What is the relation of grease bleed to lubrication? . 7 2 Motivation 7 3 Testing 8 3.1 Grease Formulation . 8 3.2 Rheology . 8 3.3 Dynamic Light Scattering . 9 3.4 Atomic Force Microscopy . 10 3.5 Size Exclusion Chromatography . 10 4 Modeling 11 4.1 Geometry . 11 4.2 Theory . 14 4.2.1 ASED Theory . 14 4.3 Density Functional Theory . 16 4.3.1 Molecular Dynamics Theory . 17 4.3.2 Micelle Formation Theory . 18 5 Results 18 5.1 ASED modeling of interatomic forces . 18 5.1.1 Separation Distance . 18 5.1.2 Growth of Micelles . 19 5.2 Rheology . 19 5.2.1 Rheology: Oscillating Stress Sweep . 19 5.2.2 Rheology: Frequency Sweep . 21 5.3 Dynamic Light Scattering Results . 23 5.4 Atomic Force Microscopy . 24 5.5 Size Exclusion Chromatography . 24 6 Discussion 25 References 27 A Grease making procedure 29 B Rheology testing procedure 31 List of Figures 1 Continuum of micelle structures over water, oil, and surfactant (soap) concentrations. 4 2 Storage and loss moduli plotted against angular frequency of oscillation showing the relative intensity. Scaling is identical for both y-axes. The storage modulus is greater than the loss modulus at 20% grease and above which is an indication that it is still grease-like. 5 1 3 Picture of the TA Instruments AR-G2 Rheometer as setup in the lab. 9 4 Dynamic light scattering graphs comparing calcium sulfonate and lithium complex greases. 10 5 Structure of grease as seen through AFM. 11 6 Structure of Li 12-hydroxystearate. 11 7 Stylized view of soap thickener molecule for calculating interactions. Image shows center and direction vector. Blue areas are negatively charged and associated with oxygen atoms. Red area is positively charged and associated with the Li ion . 12 8 Orientation of two thickener molecules in space. 13 9 Energy vesus separation in the z-direction and fit to Lennard-Jones 6-12 potential. 19 10 Image of LiHSA from molecular dynamics calculation. 20 11 Cone and Plate Rheometry of 3% LiOH grease in oil showing Oscillatory Stress vs Modulus . 20 12 Cone and Plate Rheometry of 4% LiOH grease in oil showing Oscillatory Strain rate vs Modulus. 21 13 Cone and Plate Rheometry of 5% LiOH grease in oil showing Oscillatory Stress vs Modulus. 21 14 The discrete relaxation spectra of the Time-Temperature superposition of 3% LiOH . 22 15 The discrete relaxation spectra of the Time-Temperature superposition of 4% LiOHs. 22 16 The discrete relaxation spectra of the Time-Temperature superposition of 5% LiOH. 23 17 Raw DLS results for 3% LiOH. 24 18 Raw DLS results for 4% LiOH. 24 19 Raw DLS reults for 5% LiOH. 24 20 AFM results for 3% and 5% Li 12HSA grease. 25 21 Size exclusion chromatography results for 3% and 5% Li 12HSA grease. 25 22 Graphical representation of grease making recipe. 29 23 Screenshot of software setup for test procedure. 32 List of Tables 1 Crossover points. 21 2 Grease recipe calculations. 30 3 Parameters for rheological testing . 31 4 Parameters for Oscillating Stress Sweep (OSS) . 31 5 Parameters for Frequency Stress Sweep (FSS) . 32 2 Summary Lithium 12-hydroxystearate (Li 12HSA) forms fibrous structures. The thickening properties are developed at the critical micelle concentration which has been found to be around the 4% to 5% soap concentration. { This is supported by rheological measurements, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. Atomistic modeling shows that London dispersion forces drive the Li HSA into a fibrous structure. { The forces are strongest along the axis of the Li HSA { Infrared analysis suggests the molecules interact along an axial direction (fibers) rather than side-by-side (spheres). Two Li-12HSA molecules can interact in a few different structures. { The most stable is with the Li and O in a planar structure and the tails pointing away from each other. { This structure is supported by infrared analysis { The tails have a repulsive interaction of about 0:9 eV which is in the range of Van der Waals forces. Molecular dynamics calculations show that Li 12-HSA molecule adsorb along the length of the micelle bundle and be aligned with the long axis. { The growth of the fibers due to London dispersion forces makes them thicker. { The repulsion due to the ionic head groups coupled with the hydroxy groups staggers the placement making the fibers longer. 3 1 Introduction Grease thickeners are most often compared to sponges holding oil instead of water. This idea is very helpful for designs using soap thickeners. This idea may not be so helpful for other thickener systems. Soap thickeners form reverse micelles in oil, see Figure 1. Figure 1: Continuum of micelle structures over water, oil, and surfactant (soap) concentrations. Other thickeners like alkyl benzene sulfonates may also form similar micelle structures. Micelle creation comes from the head (hydrophilic) and tail (lypophilic) structure. Polymer thickeners (polyurea) and solid thickeners do not have this same structure. The mechanism of bleed will be different based on the type of thickener used so there may not be a \universal" mechanism. The structure of grease is complex and determined by the type of thickener. The interactions are governed by Van der Walls forces between the surfactant and the oil and between surfactant molecules themselves. There is also a physical entanglement occurring between the surfactant molecules and the lubricating oil molecular chains. There are chemical and mechanical interactions that make up the oil thickener matrix. Soap thickeners and perhaps the sulfonate thickeners form worm-like reverse micelle structures. The tails solubilized in the oil phase. In aqueous micelle formation the heads of fatty acid surfactant molecules form anions and the counter cation is solubilized by water molecules. This mechanism is absent in oil mixtures due to the very low concentration of water; i.e. there is no ionization of fatty acid soap molecules in grease. This is fortuitous with the heads crowded together if they were ionized the electrostatic repulsions would destabilize the micelle. This may be the mechanism of degradation when water gets into grease at higher concentration. Polymer thickeners can operate in a number of ways. Polyethylene and all long chain polymer additives can thicken simply by mechanical interaction with other polymer additives and the oil. Polyurea thickeners consist of short chain dimers and tetramers. Polyurea chains have both a carbonyl and a secondary amine group. These may interact through a hydrogen bonding interaction to make the chains act longer. Solid particle thickeners depend on the interaction with the lubricating oil resulting in the oil wetting the surface. Clay thickeners must be treated with surface active agents to increase the 4 interaction between the particles and the oil. Other solid thickeners must be matched with the oil type to provide enough interaction to provide thickening. 1.1 How does the grease thickener structure form? In order to determine how grease bleeds it is necessary to understand how the grease thickener matrix forms. The idea of a reverse micelle will be used as a starting point to understand grease formation. Micelle formation in aqueous solutions only happens after a critical micelle concentration (CMC) is reached. Grease thickeners also require a critical concentration for matrix formation.[21] The first task will be to measure the CMC for grease formation. Grease formation introduces a nonlinear component to the rheology of the mixture. Rheological testing will be used to determine when the grease first forms. Using a cone on plate rheometer the storage and loss moduli can be measured under oscillating motion. The method here will involve small angle oscillatory shear (SAOS). Under these conditions the goal is to measure the rheological properties without disturbing the thickener matrix. Multiple tests can be performed since the grease should not be significantly disturbed. Repeats and replicates will determine if this is indeed the case. Storage modulus is related to a \solid" material while the loss modulus is related to a \liquid" material. A rubber band has a large storage modulus with no loss modulus. Lubricating oil has a large loss modulus with no storage modulus. CMC will be the point when the storage modulus is larger than the loss modulus; i.e. the mixture is more solid than liquid, see Figure 2. Concentration will be altered by diluting fully formulated grease. This may require manufacturing laboratory quantities of grease with differing concentrations of thickener. Figure 2: Storage and loss moduli plotted against angular frequency of oscillation showing the relative intensity. Scaling is identical for both y-axes. The storage modulus is greater than the loss modulus at 20% grease and above which is an indication that it is still grease-like. [ht] Rheological measurements will get close to the critical micelle concentration but tells us nothing about the matrix formulation. Structure elucidation requires more precise measurements of the 5 interactions. Conventional analytical techniques like NMR can be used to investigate the inter- action of the oil with the thickener. This will give information in the changes in the electronic environment of the atoms as they interact. There are also optical means of determining when the thickener agglomerates. Fluorescence polarization has been used to study micelle formation. Before agglomeration the molecules are free to move about giving a small polarization. As the molecules agglomerate and begin to form the thickener matrix the polarization increases.