Tribological Behavior of Carbon-Based Nanomaterial-Reinforced Nickel Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) with exceptional mechanical, thermal, chemical, and electrical properties are enticing reinforcements for fabricating lightweight, high-strength, and wear-resistant metal matrix composites with superior mechanical and tribological performance. Nickel–carbon nanotube composite (Ni-CNT) and nickel–graphene nanoplatelet composite (Ni-GNP) were fabricated via mechanical milling followed by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The Ni-CNT/GNP composites with varying reinforcement concentrations (0.5, 2, and 5 wt%) were ball milled for twelve hours to explore the effect of reinforcement concentration and its dispersion in the nickel microstructure. The effect of varying CNT/GNP concentration on the microhardness and the tribological behavior was investigated and compared with SPS processed monolithic nickel. Ball-on-disc tribological tests were performed to determine the effect of different structural morphologies of CNTs and GNPs on the wear performance and coefficient of friction of these composites. Experimental results indicate considerable grain refinement and improvement in the microhardness of these composites after the addition of CNTs/GNPs in the nickel matrix. In addition, the CNTs and GNPs were effective in forming a lubricant layer, enhancing the wear resistance and lowering the coefficient of friction during the sliding wear test, in contrast to the pure nickel counterpart. Pure nickel demonstrated the highest CoF of ~0.9, Ni-0.5CNT and Ni-0.5GNP exhibited a CoF of ~0.8, whereas the lowest CoF of ~0.2 was observed for Ni-2CNT and Ni-5GNP composites. It was also observed that the uncertainty of wear resistance and CoF in both the CNT/GNP-reinforced composites increased when loaded with higher reinforcement concentrations. The wear surface was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis to elucidate the wear mechanism in these composites.

Graphene derivatives reinforced metal matrix nanocomposite coatings: A review

“…The Nickel-GO nanocomposite coatings on the SS440 samples were prepared using pulse electrodeposition (PED). The tribological results revealed that the GO particles improved the friction and wear resistance through the formation of a tribolayer at the contact interface [117]. Studies on Ni-graphene composite coatings showed that COFs of the composite coatings were reduced by increasing the amount of graphene reinforcement which caused improvement in wear resistance properties (Figure 7) [105], [106].…”

Synthesis and Mechanism Study of Carbon Nanowires, Carbon Nanotubes, and Carbon Pompons on Single-Crystal Diamonds

“…Therefore, diamonds have been extensively studied for applications in electronic devices [15], thermal management, diffractive optical elements [16], and biomedicine [17]. In most applications, carbon nanomaterials are grown on substrates, such as silicon carbide, graphite, platinum, and nickel [18][19][20]. Existing evidence suggests that the heterostructure of graphene and diamond is beneficial for many applications.…”

Effect of MWCNTs and heat treatment on coefficient of friction and wear characteristics of MWCNTs reinforced Al6082 composites under dry sliding condition

“…The main challenges during stir casting processing are obtaining a homogeneous distribution of CNTs and forming a stable interface between CNTs and Al. 28,29 These problems can be rectified using magnesium as a wetting agent and an ultrasonic probe stirrer to break down the clusters of MWCNTs. 30 Zhou et al 31 examined the tribological properties of CNTs/Al composites at a load of 30 N and 0.1571 m/s sliding speed.…”