Tribological performance of pullulan additives in water-based lubricant

Water can be used as an ecological lubricant base if the water-based additives are properly developed to modify its tribological properties. Additionally, those additives should be friend both to human and nature. Pullulan is a naturally occurring polysaccharide, which is biodegradable and non-toxic and widely used in food and nonfood applications. We focus here on understanding the lubrication properties of pullulan, in aqueous solution in absence and presence of sodium salts. Lubrication is studied using a ball-on-disk tribometer with steel–steel surfaces and the friction coefficient and wear are measured in the boundary lubrication regimes. The adsorption of pullulan molecules onto steel surface is determined by measuring wettability of friction couples. It was found that the addition of pullulan improves the lubricating properties of water. The lubricating performance of Pullulan solution could be further improved if sodium chloride or sodium fluoride is added. The tribological results obtained were correlated with the adsorption capacity of pullulan molecules onto steel surface.