Design of smart lubricants using the inverse ferrofluid approach

A new formulation is proposed to lubricate tribopairs in extreme conditions where the amount of lubricant small and lubricating region highly confined. It composed non-magnetic solid lubricants dispersed an oil-based ferrofluid. When this inverse ferrofluid (IFF) magnetically activated, particles are subjected magnetophoretic forces. By using appropriate magnetic field gradients, they can be driven interest thus control friction locally. The rheological tribological performances three IFF formulations evaluated several applied strength shear flow rates.