GREENCOAT
Green high-performance and low-friction interfaces tailored by the reactivity of novel DLC coatings and ionic liquids

Project number
4153
Starting Date
01-08-2017
Duration
36 Months
Call identifier
M-ERA.NET Call 2016
The GreenCOAT project is about designing a green DLC coating for contact interfaces based on a new DLC deposition technology that is tailored for harmless ionic-liquid lubrication. Only such a technology will be able to satisfy the strict legislation about the environment and greenhouse-gas emissions, and as such it is simply indispensable for heavily loaded, mechanical components that require lubrication in transport and industrial systems. This is particularly related to those systems operating in nature, like fluid-power hydraulics machinery in wind and off-shore energy, marine systems, bioenergy from forests, geothermal energy, mining, agriculture, etc. Existing UN, EU and national emission regulations are already affecting the performance of some modern machinery, and as these restrictions become tighter, a number of lubricants with regulated additives will have to be abandoned.
Without new green lubrication solutions, the performance of machinery will deteriorate, reducing operating lifetimes, shortening maintenance intervals, wasting materials, and generating higher energy losses, all leading to large-scale technical and economic consequences for the EU. This urgent need to replace the current technology means the development of high-performance green lubrication is one of Europe’s most urgent priorities.
OBJECTIVES

Scientific
Doped (Ag, W) and tailored DLC coatings via HiPIMS deposition for greatly improved reactivity with green IL additives. A new fundamental understanding of the tribological formation/removal of the adsorbed IL films on DLC coatings, their adsorption and chemical nature, as well as electrochemical and tribo-corrosion property will be developed. This is largely absent from the literature.

Technological
A highly industry-relevant nano-scale engineered boundary film interface design based on green-lubrication technology and advanced HiPIMS DLC deposition, applicable in fluid-power hydraulics machinery, as well as the automotive and other industrial sectors.

Socio-economic
A step-change in green lubrication and contact engineering, with a direct impact on greenhouse-gas emissions, pollution, hazardous materials, saving resources, reduced maintenance and therefore on economic and social aspects.
WORK PACKAGES
WP1
Selection and production of materials, lubrificants and samples preparation
WP2
Neutron reflectometry in-situtribo-adsorption
WP3
E-QCM adsorption kinetics
WP4
Macro-contact lubrification performance
WP5
Tribocorrosion interactions for the DLC-IL interface
WP6
Nanoscale-resolved characterisation of surfaces and absorbed boundary films
WP7
Adsorption mechanisms
WP8
Lubrification mechanisms with interface design and real scale validation
WP9
Management
WP10
Exploitation and dissemination
MILESTONES
M1
M1.1 — Selected doping materials, concentrations and DLC coatings properties
M1.2 — Selected base oils and ionic liquids as additives
M1.5 — Defining samples properties and geometry for use in different fundamental tests.
M1.3 — Defined various concentrations for each IL with appropriate solubility in base oils
M1.4 — Purchasing commercial materials: base oils, ZDDP and deuterated molecules
M2
M3.1 — Defined and prepared E-QCM testing conditions, method and procedures
M3.2 — Performed E-QCM adsorption test under static conditions for different DLCs
M2.3 — Determination of thickness and density of the adsorbed IL layers (tribolayers) from NR experime4nts on various DLCs
M3
M2.1 — Design of tribo-testes for in-situ adsorption in NR test at AMOR (PSI)
M2.2 — Definition of testing conditions for in-situ NR
M3.3 — Understood adsorption kinetics of IL layers under static conditions
M4
M4.1 — Defined and prepared tribo-testing conditions, methods and procedures
M4.2 — Performed tribo tests for DLC-IL combinations under selected conditions
M4.3 — Evaluated tribological data in terms of wear and friction, as well as a consequent efficiency of the selected interfaces
M5
M5.1 — Defined and prepared tribocorrosion testing conditions and procedures.
M5.2 — Performed tribocorrosion tests for selected ILs and metals
M5.3 — Performed tribocorrosion tests for selected ILs and DLCs
M5.4 — Evaluated tribocorrosion data
M6
M6.1 — DLC coatings characterisation on different samples
M6.2 — Tribofilms characterisation of tested samples
M7
M7.1 — Determining the adsorption mechanisms for various DLC-IL combinations
M7.2 — Determining the most strongly adsorbed boundary films in DLC-IL combinations
M8
M8.1 — Summarizing findings from analyses performed in previous WPs
M8.2 — Revealing the lubrication mechanisms for each DLC-IL combination and comparison to SOTA additives
M8.3 — Optimised nano-engineering DLC-IL interface
M8.4 — Performing validation test and basec optimisation for the best performing DLC-IL interface
PARTNERS
Laboratory for
tribology and interface
nanotechnology
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
EVENTS

Teleconference Meeting – July 2020
Teleconference Meeting July 2020 –

GreenCoat Meeting – 5th March @ Coimbra

GreenCoat Meeting – 11th June @Vienna

Teleconference Meeting – January 2019

GreenCoat Meeting @NTNU
GreenCoat Meeting – 23th November

Teleconference Meeting – October 2018
Teleconference Meeting on October 8 Meeting

Teleconference Meeting
Conference Agenda: Download

GreenCoat Meeting – 3 April @IPN
Meeting Agenda: Download Meeting Minutes: Download

Kick-off Meeting
Download Meeting Agenda here Download
NEWS

Final Press Release, July
Download
International Colloquium in Tribology, 28-30 January 2020, Stuttgart, Germany
In the International Colloquium in
ITC-2019 – International Tribology Conference
Wahyu Wijanarko from NTNU presented,
EUROCORR 2019 – The annual event of the European Federation of Corrosion
In EUROCORR 2019, 9-13 September

Leeds-Lyon symposium on Tribology 2019 – TRIBOLOGY IN DAILY LIFE
Dr. Muhammad Shahid Arshad from
iCOME 2019 – The 4th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering
Wahyu Wijanarko from NTNU presented,

ECOTRIB 2019 – 7th European Conference on Tribology
12th – 14th June, Vienna,

Press Release #1

SLOTRIB 2018 – Conference on Tribology, Lubrificants and Technical Diagnostics

XI International Conference on Surfaces, Materials and Vacuum
XI International Conference on Surfaces,
On July 2018
Muhammad Faizan Rabbani and Muhammad
SCIENTIFIC WORKS

Room and High Temperature Tribological Behaviour of W-DLC Coatings Produced by DCMS and Hybrid DCMS-HiPIMS Configuration

Physicochemical and tribological characterizations of WDLC coatings and ionic-liquid lubricant additives: Potential candidates for low friction under boundary-lubrication conditions
CONTACTS