Wear and Friction of Carbon Nanofiber-Reinforced HDPE Composites

Abstract

New applications of carbon-based materials have been continuously developed in recent years. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with silane coatings were added into high density polyethylene (HDPE) to improve the tribological properties of the nanocomposite material. The nanocomposites were fabricated with various weight percentages of carbon nanofibers (0.5 wt.%, 1 wt.% and 3 wt.%) that were treated with different silane coating thicknesses (2.8 nm and 46 nm) through melt-mixing and compressive processing. The wear and friction tests were performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer under phosphate buffered saline lubricated condition. Compared with the neat HDPE, the friction coefficients of the nanocomposites were reduced in all samples, yet only a couple of nanocomposite samples showed lower wear rates. Micro-hardness measurements of the nanocomposites were carried out and CNFs were found to be capable of increasing the material’s micro-hardness. The effects of concentration and silane coating thickness of CNFs on the tribological properties of the resulting nanocomposites were analyzed and the wear mechanisms of the HDPE/CNF nanocomposites were discussed.