Investigation of new antifrictional/frictional nanocomposites based on PTFE matrix filled with Fe-doped carbon nanoparticles

¹Republic Centre for Structure Researches of Georgian Technical University, 77 Kostava str., Tbilisi 0175, Georgia

²R. Dvali Institute of Machine Mechanics, 10 Mindeli str., Tbilisi 0186, Georgia

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2018, 9 (5), pp 320-325

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2018.1988

Publication Date (Web): May 17, 2018

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: ekutelia@gtu.edu.ge

Abstract

The present work is dealing with the study of a nano-compositional material which was obtained on the basis of PTFE with 2.5÷10wt% of core-shell type Fe-doped carbon nano-tubes and carbon nano-particles as fillers. The PTFE samples without the fillers were prepared too. Weight wear, friction coefficient and temperature were measured after passing some velocity steps, and afterwards the linear wear was calculated. The obtained results have shown that the incorporation of about 2,5÷5wt% of Fe-doped CNTs into PTFE matrix drastically improves the antifrictional properties in comparison to the unfilled PTFE. Namely, the wear resistance of these nanocompositions increased by the factor of 500-150 in the range of friction velocities 0.25÷1.25 m/sec. Increase of the filler portion up to 10wt% transforms the obtained nanocomposite from antifrictional to friction material with the enhanced coefficient of friction up to 0.32, but with the unexpectedly ultra-low wear. SEM-EDX analyses of the worn surfaces of the tested nanocomposites and the cast iron samples after working as a tribological pair, revealed some favorable effects of the Fe-doped CNTs filler on the formation mechanism of a transfer film and its role in promoting very low wear of the obtained new nanocomposites.

Keywords

Nanocomposite polymer, PTFE, Fe-doped CNT, transfer film.