Lubrication mechanism of nanofluid at the grinding interface in SiCf/SiC composite materials and diamond abrasive: Atomic-scale insights and experiment

B Wang and T Chen and BL Wang and Q Zhang and C Song, DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS, 159, 112927 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.diamond.2025.112927

SiCf/SiC composites are strategically employed for thermal zone applications in aerospace propulsion systems. However, machining-induced damage to workpieces and cutting tools remains a critical barrier to their industrial adoption. This study investigates nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (NMQL) as a solution, combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to reveal atomic-scale lubrication mechanisms with experiment (dry, MQL, and NMQL with Graphene/ Multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs)) for macroscopic process control. The results show that Nano-particle additives can improve interfacial adsorption of oil films through surface energy modulation. Graphene reduces the contact area of the wall surface by decreasing the curvature and wrinkling at the interface. The tubular structure of MWCNTs collapses radially under shear-compression coupled stress, weakening their rolling ability. On this basis experimental results show that graphene nanofluids exhibit excellent lubrication performance and compared with the Dry, MQL, and NMQL-MWCNTs conditions, the normal grinding force was reduced by 55.6 %, 45 %, and 40.7 %, respectively; the surface roughness Sa decreased by 62.1 %, 40.1 %, and 26.5 %, respectively. The change in lubrication conditions suppressed diamond grinding wheel wear while reducing the degree of oxidation of the workpiece. This study provides a green process path for solving the problem of processing damage in SiCf/SiC composite materials and offers a theoretical foundation for understanding the operational principles of nanofluids at grinding contact surfaces.

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