Impact of engine oil's additives on particulate matter's micro-and nanostructure using electron microscopy image analysis

Abstract

According to increasingly stringent emission regulations on particle emissions from automotive vehicles, a diesel engine must be equipped with diesel particulate filter (DPF) to trap the particulate matters (PMs) which can be harmful to human health. Morphology and chemical composition of particulate matters were successfully studied using electron microscopy and electron dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Microstructure of particulate matters derived from diesel blending lubricating oil were not significant different compared to diesel PM. Nanostructure of soot is a spherical shape composed of curve line crystallites and the particle sizes were in the range of 10 -60 nm while the metal oxide ash is composed of lattice fringes. Chemical composition analysis of EDS result showed that metallic additives from lubricating oil cannot be burned during combustion and might be transformed into metal oxide ash.