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This paper aims to experimentally investigate the film-forming capability of base oils containing poly-methacrylate (PMA) and poly-isobutene (PIB), in a point contact under pure rolling.

By using the relative light intensity method, the film thickness is calculated from the interferometer images which are captured by multiple-contact optical elastohydrodynamic lubricated test rig.

The test results reveal that polymers, both PMA and PIB, have a significant contribution to the film-forming capability of base oils and the film thickness increases with concentration. The forming-film capabilities for PMA and PIB in base oils are similar at low concentration, while PIB gives a higher film thickness than PMA at high concentration. Shear-thinning phenomenon are observed in all polymer-based oils.

The polymer usually as an additive is added into the low viscosity base oils to improve the properties of lubricant oil. This paper reports the lubricated properties of PMA and PIB with different concentrations in base oils and to evaluate their functional mechanism in a point contact.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2020-0263/