Tribological properties of ionic liquid 1-(2'-O,O-diethylphosphonylethyl)-3-hexylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate as lubricant

The ionic liquid 1-(2'-O,O-diethylphosphonylethyl)-3-hexylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was prepared. The tribological properties were evaluated as a kind of promising lubricant for the aluminum-on-steel and steel/steel contacts. The results show that the synthetic ionic liquid possesses excellent tribological behavior and is superior to phosphazene (X-1P) in terms of friction-reduction ability and load-carrying capacity. It exhibits good antiwear ability owning to the formation of chemical adorption boundary film.