Slippery when dry

Matt Edison

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

10-7-2016

Campus Unit

College of Engineering & Mines

Abstract

UND mechanical engineer Suroijt Gupta is re-envisioning the modern engine through an agreement with the U.S. Army to reduce the need for oil-based lubricants

When people imagine the machines of the future, they might envision flying cars or engines that run without gasoline.

University of North Dakota Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Surojit Gupta has his own futuristic vision: an engine that doesn’t need oil.

Gupta recently started a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army Research Lab worth about $360,000 over three years. Per the agreement, Gupta and his team of graduate students will assist the Army in creating self-lubricating materials and high temperature propulsion systems. UND’s Mechanical Engineering Department is part of the College of Engineering and Mines.

Part one of the project is to design solid lubricant materials. The materials will be able to withstand higher temperatures than current designs, making the need for oil a thing of the past. Part two involves designing high-temperature materials for high-powered turbines. Turbines are currently manufactured with nickel-based alloys, which have lower functional temperatures.

Though it’s too early to say how long the materials would last, Gupta insists the materials will have a longer life than current traditional oil-based machinery and will be better for the environment.

“As you can imagine, if you eliminate oil from machinery you can reduce the cost so much,” says Gupta, who earlier this year was named the winner of the 2016 Global Young Investigator Award at an international conference in Florida.

Civilian applications, too

If Gupta and his team are successful, their designs would enable devices to fly for longer in complex combat and peacetime environments to provide improved medical support or protection to friendly troops on ground.

Gupta believes the day will come when his research will shift from creating self-lubricating materials to actually applying those novel materials to real-world machines.

He says the most realistic application for these new materials is in an aerospace environment, perhaps, in the form of a shaft and gearbox that will be made of UND’s new multifunctional materials.

These materials also might be used for numerous civilian applications, such as oil-free engines and other devices — such as polymer contact devices solid lubrication is needed,” Gupta said.

“Normally when you have cars we tend to replace oil, and changing oil is always a problem,” Gupta said. “Imagine if we have structures where you don’t need to change the oil in the system; we can use the solid lubricants and eliminate the oil. We don’t need any kind of coolant system -- that will eliminate the cost of that as well as reduce pollution.”

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