The acid number of the mixed solution of 150SN oil and oleic acid characterizes the volume content of oleic acid in the solution, based on which the adsorptive capability of oleic acid is studied on the 45 steel balls and disks. Boundary lubrication tests are carried out on a self designed ball-on-disk machine, The base oil is pure 150SN oil, and oleic acid as additive are added into the lubricant. Disks have surface roughness values （Ra） of 0.8 μn and 0.4 μn. The electrical contact resistance method is used to determine the lubrication status. Hypothesize that the molecular film is monomolecular layer in condensed state and the opposing surfaces are completely separated by molecular film. A boundary lubrication model is established according to experimental results and hypothesizes. The experimental and calculatienal results show that the adsorption of polar molecules on steel surface is the main factor to form the boundary lubrication film. Load and sliding speed contribute little to the friction coefficient of boundary lubrication. The properties of steel surface and additive for the lubricant significantly influence on the characters of boundary lubrication. The smaller the surface roughness value is, the smaller the friction coefficient of the boundary lubrication is.
