Structure design and performance investigation of 2-mercapto-5-methyl thiadiazole based ionic liquids as lubricants and corrosion inhibitors

2-mercapto-5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (MMT) based ionic liquids were synthesized, their corrosion inhibition behavior and tribological performance were systematically evaluated. Electrochemical experiments showed MMT based ILs exhibited surprising corrosion inhibition efficiencies. The ILs adsorption behavior obeys Langmuir isotherm. Friction tests demonstrated MMT based ILs performed excellent lubrication properties, compared to [BMIM][BF 4 ]. Combining with analysis of SEM and XPS , it can be concluded that the prominent lubrication performance ascribed to the coexistence of adsorption layer and tribo-film. Therefore, versatile ILs designed in this paper have gathered two significant abilities for industrial applications, which are high corrosion inhibiting performance and excellent lubricating properties. This work is instructive for structure design of multifunctional ILs and will promote industrial application of MMT based ILs in the future.