The object of this research is to investigate the tribological properties of glycerol lubricant with aluminum nanoparticles as an additive and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as the dispersive medium for iron to iron friction using a thrust collar tribotester. Meanwhile, the effects of different concentrations of aluminum nanoparticles, SDS, and deionized water in glycerol on tribology properties of iron to iron friction were studied. The experimental parameters were set up according to the Taguchi technique, their influence on the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate were examined by response surface methodology (RSM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods. The analysis results were employed to optimize the parameters to obtain the best lubricant effects. The optimal combination of the parameters for both minimum COF and wear rate was found to be 0.6667 weight percent (wt %) of aluminum nanoparticles, 2 wt % of SDS, and 10 wt % of deionized water content of glycerol. The wear surface topography and the average roughness of the surface were also examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a Mitutoyo Surftest SJ-400 instrument. The results show that aluminum nanoparticles used as an additive in lubricant reduce the surface roughness of a collar remarkably. The energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) was utilized to confirm the deposition of aluminum nanoparticles on the collar surface leading to decreased friction and wear.

The adhesion strength of the coated SiO₂ thin film to SUS304 stainless steel substrates with various surface treatment conditions is studied in this research. The surface of the SUS304 stainless steel substrate is first treated with 1000-W plasma and then a SiO₂ thin film is deposited onto the surface via radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Scanning electron microscopy is employed to observe the surface and cross section of the coating and X-ray diffraction is used to analyze the crystallographic structure. Moreover, a nanoscratch test instrument was employed to examine the indentation, scratches, coating hardness, modulus of elasticity, coefficient of friction, and critical adhesion of the SiO₂ film and to obtain surface profiles. A comparison of the coating adhesion of the substrate surfaces with and without plasma treatment indicates that critical adhesion increases significantly after Ar/N₂/O₂ plasma treatment.

The plastic deformation behavior of axis symmetric aluminium 6061 cups was determined by analyzing the four important deep drawing process parameters, namely blank temperature, die edge radius, blank holder force and friction coefficient. Taguchi techniques along with finite element method (FEM) were used to determine the importance of process parameters. The Taguchi method was used to analyze the influence of each process parameter. From the deformation result and analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was determined that the temperature of the blank has a major influence on the deformation characteristic of aluminium 6061 sheets followed by die edge radius, coefficient of friction, and blank holder force. The optimum levels of the four factors in determining the deformed cup heights are found to be blank temperature of 450°C, die edge radius of 14 mm, coefficient of friction of 0.60 and blank holder force of 9 KN.

This paper studies the water nanojet ejection process using molecular dynamics simulation. The results show that nanoscale water droplets cannot separate from the nozzle plate surface when the nozzle aperture has a diameter of 27.5 Å or smaller. The maximum height of the produced water nanojet is reduced after reaching to its highest position when the jet does not separate from the plate surface. Separation phenomenon between the water nanojet and the nozzle plate surface is the most obvious with the 27.5-Å-diameter nozzle aperture for this simulation setup. In addition, initial findings on the characteristics of nanoscale water droplets (width and contact angle) impinging onto a fixed plate surface are revealed in preparation for future investigation.

Molecular dynamics simulation is used to study water molecular ejection through a 27.5-Å-diameter nozzle aperture under various system temperatures and pressing forces. In simulations, the effects of system temperature on the separation of water droplets from the nozzle plate surface are investigated. The results showed that the water nanojet did not separate from the nozzle plate surface at the system temperature of 310 K used to produce the nanoscale water droplets, regardless of the pressing forces. In addition, the impingement of nanoscale water droplets onto a fixed plate surface is also expressed. The contact angle, width of the spreading droplet, and average pressure of the droplets on the plate surface are discussed.