Lubricity assessment, wear and friction of CNT-based structures in nanoscale

Abstract

In this work, three case studies are reported, namely carbon nanotube/polyvinyl butyral composites, MWCNTs/polydimethylsiloxane-based coatings and vertically aligned CNT forest array, of which the friction and resistance to wear/deformation were assessed through nanoindentation/nanoscratch. Additional deformation parameters and findings are also addressed and discussed; namely, material deformation upwards (pile-up) or downwards (sink-in) with respect to the indented surface plane, hardness to modulus ratio (index of resistance to wear) and coefficient of friction. The enhancement of the scratch resistance due to the incorporation of CNTs in a polymer matrix is investigated. For the case of the forest structure, sliding between neighboring nanotubes is identified, while, through ploughing of the tip, local deformation and the extent of plasticity are also addressed.