Our bodies have a few things in common with machines: We have moving joints, friction and wear occur, so you need suitable lubricants. The body produces them naturally all by itself - something si .
22nd April 2021 7:20 am 21st April 2021 2:12 pm
A team led by TU Wien in Vienna is exploring the use of 2D nanomaterial MXene as a lubricant suitable for use in aerospace and steel manufacturing.
The atomic layers can move relative to one another, reducing friction. Image credit: TU Wien.
Alongside research partners from Saarbrücken University in Germany, Purdue University in the USA and the University of Chile, the team at TU Wien has published its findings in the journal
The study highlights the potential for MXene to perform as a highly durable lubricant, able to withstand difficult conditions such as extreme heat or the vacuum of space. Like the carbon material graphene, MXenes are 2D materials whose properties are essentially determined by the fact that they are ultra-thin layers without strong bonds between them.
Credit: TU Wien
You can lubricate a bicycle chain with oil, but what do you do with a Mars rover or a red-hot conveyor belt in the steel industry? Very special nanomaterials have now been studied by the TU Wien together with research groups from Saarbrücken (Germany), Purdue University in the USA and the Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile).
The material class of MXenes (pronounced maxene ) has caused quite a stir in recent years in connection with novel battery technologies. But it now turns out that they are also an excellent solid lubricant that is extremely durable and performs its task even under the most difficult conditions. These remarkable properties of MXenes have now been published in the renowned journal