Viscosity analysis of lubricants containing carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Our aim is to investigate a two-component lubricant in which the carbon nanotube (CNT) particles are uniformly dispersed in the glycerol base fluid. In this paper, the viscosity of the mixture of glycerol and CNT of different mass concentration is analyzed depending on the temperature and the rotational speed. It hs been found that the shear stress of glycerol is directly proportional to the deformation rate. If the lubricant contains 1% of CNT, it exhibits a pseudoplastic character; i.e., the relationship of shear stress and shear rate exhibits power law connection, and the exponent decreases with increasing temperature.