The Prospects of Solid Lubricants for Sustainable Development: From Lubrication in Extreme Conditions to Life Cycle Assessment
Published on:
2026-04-16 09:05
Objective
To systematically evaluate the feasibility, technological advantages, environmental sustainability, and future development direction of solid lubricants as alternatives to traditional liquid lubricants, providing theoretical basis and engineering guidance for green lubrication technology.
Methodology
This paper adopts a perspective-based review approach, integrating qualitative interviews and literature analysis from experts in both academia (e.g., TU Wien, NASA, Texas A&M, and the University of Bologna) and industry (e.g., Schaeffler and Woodward). The main topics discussed include:
1. Classification of solid lubricants (layered materials, polymers, soft metals, and nanostructured materials), along with their performance under extreme operating conditions such as high temperature, vacuum, radiation, and high-speed/heavy-load environments;
2. Design of hybrid/composite materials, including laser texturing combined with fillers, plasma spraying, and PVD-fabricated “chameleon” coatings;
3. In-situ lubrication mechanisms, including tribochemistry, tribocatalysis, and tribo-oxidation;
4. Applications of computational simulations—such as DFT, AIMD, machine learning potentials, and high-throughput screening—in understanding lubrication mechanisms and guiding material design;
5. The application of life cycle assessment (LCA) methods to quantify the environmental impacts of representative solid lubricants, such as MoS₂, WS₂, and Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene, covering the full lifecycle from raw material extraction to synthesis and disposal.
Results
Performance Advantages: Solid lubricants can operate stably across a wide temperature range from –150 °C to above 1000 °C, as well as in extreme environments such as high vacuum and cosmic radiation. Their coefficient of friction can be as low as 0.01 or below. Certain two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and MoS₂, can even achieve superlubricity (<0.01).
Hybrid/Composite Materials:
Laser-textured coatings combined with MoS₂/graphite/Sb₂O₃ fillers allow for complete recovery of the coefficient of friction during wet and dry cycles; NASA's PS series coatings (Ag + CaF₂) achieve adaptive lubrication from room temperature to 1000°C; "Chameleon" coatings, through nano-encapsulation of multiple lubricants, have been validated on the MISSE space station and have been applied to over 100,000 systems without failure.
In-situ formation:
Amorphous carbon films are generated in-situ from hydrocarbon gases/oils using a MoN/Pt catalytic layer, reducing wear rate by 3 to 4 orders of magnitude; Se powder slides on the Mo/W surface to form a MoSe₂/WSe₂ lubricating film; VN coating is oxidized at high temperature to form a V₂O₅ low-melting-point phase, significantly reducing cutting friction.
Computational design:
DFT reveals that solid lubricants reduce adhesion and shear strength by reducing interfacial charge accumulation and potential energy surface undulation; machine learning potential MD simulation shows that carbon-based additives can prevent cold welding of nano-roughness peaks; high-throughput screening identified multiple superlubricant candidates from 1475 2D materials and found that fluorine-terminated MXene has extremely low interlayer friction.
Life cycle assessment:
The production of 1 kg of nano MoS₂ releases 391 kg of CO₂, and 1 kg of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene releases 428 kg of CO₂, with electricity consumption accounting for more than 70% of the environmental impact; however, the energy savings due to reduced friction during operation far outweigh the carbon footprint of production; using recycled aluminum instead of bauxite can significantly reduce MXene synthesis emissions.
Conclusions and Outlook
Solid lubricants possess irreplaceable advantages under extreme operating conditions and increasingly stringent environmental requirements, but challenges remain, including high energy consumption during synthesis, the toxicity of some materials (PTFE/PFAS, lead), and regulatory restrictions.
Future development directions include:
① Developing green solid lubricants based on natural minerals (graphite, MoS₂, boric acid) and recycled raw materials;
② Achieving long-life, self-healing lubrication by combining laser texturing, additive manufacturing, and in-situ forming technologies;
③ Utilizing high-throughput computing and machine learning to accelerate the screening of novel low-dimensional lubricating materials;
④ Establishing a more comprehensive LCA database to guide the selection of sustainable materials. Solid lubricants will not completely replace liquid lubricants, but they will become a key supplement or primary lubrication solution in fields such as electric transportation, deep space exploration, hypersonic vehicles, and data centers, making significant contributions to achieving global sustainable development goals.
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