There is a high demand for environmentally friendly lubricants in order to support a transition to sustainable transport and manufacturing since conventional mineral oils derived from fossil sources are inherently harmful for the environment. Glycerol aqueous solutions have the potential to be used as environmentally friendly base fluids, due to their high solubility in water, and non-toxicity. In this investigation a micropitting test rig (MPR), was used to study the friction, wear and micropitting behaviour of Glycerol-based lubricants in a rolling/sliding contact. Micropitting and wear profiles were analysed through optical profilometry, and the morphology and evolution of micropits were studied trough scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the steel-steel contact lubricated with a Glycerol-water-glycol lubricant reduced mild-wear, promoting micro-pitting as a main failure mode at low sliding levels compared to a commercial fully formulated gear oil. It was also shown that friction was significantly lower for the Glycerol-water and Glycerol-water-glycol lubricants which is mainly attributed to an effect of a low pressure-viscosity coefficient.

由于源自化石资源的传统矿物油本质上对环境有害，因此对环境友好的润滑剂有很高的需求，以支持向可持续运输和制造的过渡。甘油水溶液由于其在水中的高溶解度和无毒而具有用作环境友好型基液的潜力。在这项研究中，微点蚀试验台 (MPR) 用于研究甘油基润滑剂在滚动/滑动接触中的摩擦、磨损和微点蚀行为。通过光学轮廓仪分析微点蚀和磨损轮廓，并通过扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 研究微点蚀的形态和演变。结果表明，与商用全配方齿轮油相比，用甘油-水-乙二醇润滑剂润滑的钢-钢接触减少了轻度磨损，促进了微点蚀作为低滑动水平下的主要失效模式。还表明，甘油-水和甘油-水-乙二醇润滑剂的摩擦显着降低，这主要归因于低压力-粘度系数的影响。