Ph.D. Candidate (2006)

Department of Chemical Engineering
Doherty Hall Room B204
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7985 (lab)
412-268-4531 (office)
412-268-7139 (fax)

Vapor phase lubrication (VPL) has been proposed as a method for lubricating high temperature engine components. During VPL, lubricants are continuously delivered in the vapor phase to the high temperature engine parts and react to deposit a thin, solid, lubricating film which protects the engine surfaces exposed to sliding wear. The most investigated vapor phase lubricants are phosphorous containing organics such as tricresylphosphate (TCP) [(CH3-C6H4O) 3P=O].

Previous research has studied VPL molecules on various substrates such as Cu, Fe, and Ni. As the next step, we have begun to investigate the surface chemistry of TCP on a ceramic substrate such as SiC. The surface chemistry of TCP on SiC was studied using temperature programmed reaction (TPR) spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) using the ultra high vacuum (UHV) system as shown below.

Since the surfaces of ceramics are chemically inert, Fe chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from Fe(CO)5 can be used to activate the ceramic surfaces and thus to reduce wear during VPL tests. Our study is to compare the surface chemistry of TCP on the clean SiC with that of TCP on the Fe-modified SiC and then to demonstrate the feasibility of vapor phase lubrication for ceramic surfaces by iron CVD techniques.

coming soon.