Oil retaining capability and sliding friction behaviour of porous copper with elongated cylindrical pores

Abstract

Porous copper with elongated cylindrical pores aligned either axially or radially was fabricated under a high pressure of mixture gas of hydrogen and argon. Structure characterization indicated that pore size increased, pore density decreased, pore size distribution became wider with an increase in porosity for the porous copper. The dependence of oil retaining capability and sliding friction coefficient on porosity and pore size of the porous copper were investigated. It was found that the oil content of the porous copper depended mainly on the porosity, and reached 27.6% on the specimen with a porosity of 47.1%. On the other hand, the oil efficiency was not satisfactory, and became worse when the porosity increased, which was attributed to the increase in pore size and the wider pore size distribution for the porous copper. It was proven that the impregnated oil in the pores played an important role in improving the sliding friction behaviour of the porous copper. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.