| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Tribology Focus Topic | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session TR+SE-TuM |
| Session: | Low Friction Materials |
| Presenter: | D. Berman, Argonne National Laboratory |
| Authors: | D. Berman, Argonne National Laboratory A. Erdemir, Argonne National Laboratory A.V. Sumant, Argonne National Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In recent years, reducing friction and wear-related mechanical failures in moving mechanical systems has gained increased attention due to their adverse impacts on efficiency, durability and environmental compatibility of such systems. Accordingly, search continues for novel materials, coatings, and lubricants (both liquid and solid) that can potentially reduce friction and wear. The majority of the existing solid lubricants (MoS2 graphite, hexagonal boron nitride, etc.) requires full coverage, strong bonding, and relatively thick layers to provide lubricity to sliding interfaces. Moreover, their lifetimes and lubricating properties vary a great deal when operated under different environmental and tribological conditions. In this study, we demonstrate that a few layers of graphene are able to drastically reduce friction and wear of sliding steel surfaces under both inert and humid environments. The reduction in wear is as much as 4 orders of magnitude while friction is cut down by factors of 4 to 5. We believe that the anti-corrosion property of graphene coupled with its self-lubricating nature is mainly responsible for such remarkable friction and wear properties and the surface microscopic and spectroscopic studies confirm our hypothesis by confirming the presence of very thin and continuous graphene layers on both the ball and disk surfaces which were slid against one another under 1 N load in both humid air and dry nitrogen environments. In addition, we show that graphene application as well as re-application does not require any additional processing steps other than just applying a small amount of ethanol solution containing graphene on the surface of interest making this process simple, cost effective, and environmental friendly. Most of all, we found that unlike conventional solid lubricants which are all sensitive to environmental conditions, graphene provides low friction and wear regardless of the operating environment.
[1] D. Berman, A. Erdemir, A.V. Sumant: “Few layer graphene to reduce wear and friction on sliding steel surfaces”. Carbon, 54, 454-459 (2013)
[2] D. Berman, A. Erdemir, A.V. Sumant: “Reduced Wear and Friction Enabled by Graphene Layers on Sliding Steel Surfaces in Dry Nitrogen”, Carbon, in press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2013.03.006
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.