An investigation of the sliding wear behavior of Cu-matrix composite reinforced by carbon nanotubes
Introduction
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes there has been much interest in the field of carbon fiber materials [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. This stems from noticeable properties of carbon nanotubes, such as higher tensile strength, good elasticity, high conductivity and chemical inactivity [2], [3], [4], [5], compared to any existing graphite fibers. The ratio of length to diameter of nanotubes can reach 100–1000 and their diameter is at about nanometer level [6], [7]. Therefore carbon nanotubes are considered excellent candidate reinforcing fibers for a variety of composite materials [8], [9]. However this application is scarcely reported. In view of the widely use of CF/Cu composite for electric brushes and electronic component pedestals [10], [11], [12], It is supposed that composite reinforced with nanotubes, instead of carbon fiber, would have higher strength and better wear resistance. In this paper we investigated the Nanotube/Cu composite sliding wear behavior under dry sliding condition.
Section snippets
Experimental samples
The carbon nanotubes were synthesized by thermal decomposition of acetylene [13]. Chemical nickeling was applied to the nanotubes to improve the adherence between nanotubes and Cu-matrix [14]. Industrially pure copper powder (<9 μm) was used as the matrix material. Several groups of specimens, containing from 0 to 25 vol.% of nanotubes respectively, were fabricated by means of a powder metallurgy (PM) technique. Before PM processing was conducted, the copper powder and nanotubes were mixed and
Mechanical properties of the composite
The optical micrograph in Fig. 1 illustrates a typical microstructure of a Nanotube/Cu composite prepared by PM. The composite exhibits low porosity. The SEM micrograph (Fig. 2) shows a homogeneous distribution of nanotubes and a fiber-pull-out fracture mode. XRD measurements of the powder mixtures after 30 min of ball milling and the composite after isothermal sintering at 850°C indicates that no carbon/copper or carbon/nickel compound was formed in the composite.
The hardness and the porosity
Conclusions
(1) Oxidation wear is the main wear mechanism for The Nanotube/Cu composite under dry sliding conditions. The formation of carbon film can reduce the friction and wear rate. Compared with CF/Cu composite, the Nanotube/Cu composite has a lower coefficient of friction and reduced weight loss. (2) Increasing the nanotube volume fraction can significantly decrease both the coefficient of friction and wear rate of the composite. The optimum nanotubes content is between 12 and 15%.
Acknowledgements
The project was supported by National Natural Foundation of China (No. 59872030).
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