The preparation of carbon nanotube (CNT)/copper composites and the effect of the number of CNT walls on their hardness, friction and wear properties

Christophe Guiderdoni (1) , Ekaterina Pavlenko (2) , Viviane Turq (1) , Alicia Weibel (1) , Pascal Puech (2) , Claude Estournès (1) , Alain Peigney (1) , Wolfgang Bacsa (2) , Christophe Laurent (1)

1 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
2 CEMES - Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales

Carbon nanotubes with 2, 3, 8 and 20 walls are mixed with a copper powder (micrometer sized) and consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The microhardness of resulting composites is found to be over 50% higher than that for Cu and the friction coefficient against a steel ball is decreased by a factor of 3-4 while the wear and wear rate are reduced by a factor of 10-20. Raman maps of selected specimens outside and inside the worn surface show that double-wall carbon nanotubes remain intact. The reasons for the effect of the number of walls and carbon content are discussed.

Mots clés: Carbon nanotubes; CNT; SPS; Sintering; Composite copper

Domaines: Matériaux; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Christophe Guiderdoni, Ekaterina Pavlenko, Viviane Turq, Alicia Weibel, Pascal Puech, et al.. The preparation of carbon nanotube (CNT)/copper composites and the effect of the number of CNT walls on their hardness, friction and wear properties. Carbon, 2013, vol. 58, pp. 185-197. ⟨10.1016/j.carbon.2013.02.049⟩. ⟨hal-00869492⟩