Environmental awareness and ever-growing restrictive regulations over contamination have increased the need for more environmentally-friendly lubricants. Due to their superior biodegradability and lower toxicity, vegetable oils are a good alternative to replace currently-used mineral oils. However, vegetable oils show low oxidation and thermal stability and poor anti-wear properties. Most of these drawbacks can be attenuated through the use of additives. In the last decade, ionic liquids have emerged as high-performance fluids and lubricant additives due to their unique characteristics. In this study, the tribological behavior of two phosphonium-based ionic liquids is investigated as additives of coffee bean oil in steel-steel contact. Coffee bean oil-ionic liquid blends containing 1, 2.5, and 5 wt% of each ionic liquid are studied using a block-on-flat reciprocating tribometer and the test results are compared to commercially-available, fully-formulated lubricant. Results showed that the addition of the ionic liquids to the coffee bean oil reduces wear volume of the steel disks, and wear values achieved are comparable to that obtained when the commercially-available lubricant is used.

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