Tribological and anticorrosion behaviour of novel xanthate-containing triazine derivatives in water-glycol

•Preparing three xanthate-containing triazine derivatives as lubricant additives in water-glycol.•The as-prepared additives have a good anticorrosion capacity.•The tribological performances of additives were widely investigated and proved under various test conditions.•The additives display excellent antiwear and friction-reducing performances.•Possible friction mechanisms of the additives were explored through SEM and XPS analysis.

Three novel xanthate-containing water-soluble triazine derivatives, 2,4-Di-(N,N-diethanolamine)-6-(ethyl xanthate ester-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (EXT), 2,4-Di-(N,N-diethanolamine)-6-(butyl xanthate ester-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (BXT) and 2,4-Di-(N, N-diethanolamine)-6-(hexyl xanthate ester-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (HXT), were synthesized and used as additives in water-glycol base fluid. It was found that the additive-containing samples had no corrosive effect on the cast iron and copper surface within 2.5 wt% additive. The tribological test results using a four-ball tribometer showed that the three additives greatly improved the PB value, friction-reducing and antiwear performances of water-glycol. XPS results indicated that the additives had reacted with the contact metal surfaces and formed complex tribofilms composed of iron oxide, iron sulfide and iron sulfate, which may contribute to the reduction of friction coefficient and wear rate of the friction system.