Sclero-Topometry in Superficial Wear and Metal Processing of Ductile Cast Iron at Boundary Lubrication. Application to Tribological Valorization of Waste Oil

Abstract

In order to better understand superficial abrasive wear and metal processing sclero-topometric investigations have been developed and applied to spheroidal cast iron at boundary lubrication regime with new, waste and regenerated oils. Recycling of waste oils is the major challenge of worldwide society today, specifically for petroleum resources, and therefore, for derivatives like transformer oil. The contradictory characteristics from physical approach of transformer oil, requiring and insuring simultaneously a high thermal conductivity as well as an electrical resistivity, are specific for their applications. During the efficient lifetime, these characteristics progressively decrease, due to complex pollution (divers pollutions, water absorption, Polychlorobiphenyl (PCB), etc) and degradation (acids, resins, polluted oils, biological invasions, wear debris's du to local frictions, fretting, etc…), ultimately making the oil unsuitable for the initial application. [1] The strategy to upgrade the waste oil is investigated in the presented work using improved sclerometric and topometric characterisations [2,3] on deliberately selected heterogeneous material - ductile cast iron (with spheroidal graphite precipitations) widely manufactured for various transport industry[4].