Mexico. The Center for Research and Technological Development in Electrochemistry (Cideteq) carries out a series of projects focused on the generation of low-cost lubricating coatings, aimed at the automotive and aerospace sector, as well as the transformation and energy industry, which are resistant to corrosion and erosion, which reduce energy losses due to friction between metal components and represent savings in the use of fuels.
The project is developed by the Industrial Processes and Coatings group, where researchers Jorge Morales Hernández, René Antaño López, Julieta Torres González, Fernando Felipe Rivera Iturbe, Raúl Ortega Borges and Federico Castañeda Zaldívar collaborate, with the collaboration of postgraduate students in electrochemistry from Cideteq.
The research professor in the area of Industrial Processes and Coatings, Jorge Morales Hernández, said that these lines of study arose from the need in the industrial sector to have functional coatings in the face of factors such as wear, fragility, fractures and even corrosion.
"What is sought is to link two substantive areas, that is, the development of alloy systems based on titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) with additions of chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and boron (B) that allow us to obtain both hard coatings, low coefficient of friction and resistant to corrosion," he said.
Morales Hernández pointed out that in the line of hard and corrosion-resistant materials, Cideteq has a project with the Ministry of Energy (Sener) for the development of coatings for the geothermal sector.
"In geothermal energy we work with corrosive fluids, the coatings we are developing seek to protect the blades and other components of the turbines that tend to fail due to wear; in that sense, we are making some titanium and nickel alloys. What we want is to offer a technology that increases the life of this equipment and, at the same time, can anticipate critical failure conditions," he said.
The researcher in the area of Industrial Processes and Coatings said that, in the case of the automotive industry, the focus was more on hardness, durability and fatigue resistance, where coatings can work under constant cycle conditions.
"Here it is not just thinking about achieving high hardness values and it is where we introduce the term 'lubricant', we decrease the coefficient of friction through a nickel, chromium or titanium coating modified with additions of boron and molybdenum; this results in a material with high mechanical properties in terms of toughness, but with a low coefficient of friction," he said.
Morales Hernández explained that molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), after reducing its crystal size through mechanical deformation and bringing it to a nanostructure condition, shows a change in its texture when deposited, which makes it an excellent lubricating material, in addition to having a good resistance to corrosion to the environment.
Source: http://www.conacytprensa.mx
