Improvement of Tribological Properties of ZnO Nanoemulsion Lubricant for Zirconium Alloy Cold Rolling by Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (HEC)

Zirconium alloy' s surface often sticks and peels off during the cold process, which has a serious impact on the surface quality of the workpiece and the mold's service life. In this paper, lard was used as the oil phase to create the nano-lubricating emulsion, while Span 80 was used as the dispersant to distribute the ZnO nanoparticle using a strong ultrasonication. The addition of HEC improved the dispersion and stability of the emulsion particles by forming a network structure in solution as a result of its mutual crosslinking. Compared with the emulsion without HEC, the friction and wear were reduced by up to 85.24%. SEM showed that the surface of HEC nanoemulsion as lubricant was smooth after friction test, which greatly reduced the occurrence of adhesive wear. Furthermore, with the addition of HEC, the film thickness increased, which facilitated the entry of the nanoemulsion and improved the bearing capacity after friction demulsification. Moreover, HEC nanoemulsion can be adapted to friction under various working conditions with excellent anti-friction and anti-wear ability, which is expected to improve the surface adhesive wear of Zr alloy caused by cold rolling and the surface processing quality.