Experimental Study of Antifriction Properties of Fluids with Nanoparticles

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of adding nanoparticles of different size and materials on the friction coefficient of water-based drilling muds. Silicon oxides and ultradisperse diamond particles were considered as the nanoparticles. An aqueous bentonite solution with a mass fraction of 5% was used as the basic drilling mud model. The nanoparticle concentration in solutions ranged from 0.06 to 2.00 wt %. The size of nanoparticles ranged from 5 to 100 nm. It was shown the adding nanoparticles to drilling muds significantly decreases the friction coefficient, the value of which depends on the size of nanoparticles and changes appreciably at low concentrations.