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. 2021 Jun 24;14(13):3536.
doi: 10.3390/ma14133536.

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

Amit Patil  1 , Ganesh Walunj  1 , Furkan Ozdemir  2 , Rajeev Kumar Gupta  2 , Tushar Borkar  1
Affiliations

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

Amit Patil et al. Materials (Basel). .

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.

Keywords: ball milling; carbon nanotubes; graphene nanoplatelets; metal matrix composites (MMCs); nickel metal matrix nanocomposites; spark plasma sintering; tribological behavior.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematics for processing of Nickel-Carbon nanotubes (Ni-CNT)/ Nickel-Graphene nanoplatelets (Ni-GNP) composites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern for (a) pure Ni and Ni-CNT composites; (b) pure Ni and Ni-GNP composites.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM micrographs of (a) pure Ni, (b) Ni-0.5CNT, (c) Ni-2CNT and (d) Ni-5CNT composite.
Figure 4
Figure 4
SEM micrographs of (a) Ni-0.5GNP, (b) Ni-2GNP, (c) Ni-5GNP composite.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Raman spectra for (a) raw Ni-coated CNTs and Ni-CNT composites; (b) raw GNPs and Ni-GNP composites.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Coefficient of friction plots for (a) pure Ni and Ni-CNT composites; (b) pure Ni and Ni-GNP composites.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) maps of wear track on pure Ni.
Figure 8
Figure 8
EDS maps of wear track on Ni-CNT composites.
Figure 9
Figure 9
EDS maps of wear track on Ni-GNP composites.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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