The lubrication performance and viscosity behavior of castor oil under high temperature

Castor oil is an environment-friendly lubricant with good biodegradability and renewable behavior. However, castor oil as a green lubricant has a few shortcomings, such as a low viscosity index and low oxidative stability due to the presence of unsaturated bonds. The temperature affects the lubrication performance of castor oil. In the present study, the lubrication performance and viscosity behavior of castor oil lubricating the friction pair of a steel ball and a nickel–titanium (NiTi) alloy disk were systematically investigated under different temperatures. The results show that the lubrication performance of castor oil is influenced by temperature due to the fact that the viscosity of castor oil varies with the temperature. The coefficient of friction (CoF) of castor oil is as super-low as 0.076 at a temperature of 40°C, but is relatively high at other temperatures. The factors affecting the lubrication performance were investigated, and a possible antifriction mechanism is proposed in this study.