Effects of titania on tribological and thermal properties of polymer/graphene nanocomposites

In most engineering applications where fluid lubrication is practically impossible such as high temperature environment, solid lubrication becomes an alternative option. Polymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene are often used for solid lubrication due to their ability to provide low friction on interfacial sliding conditions. However, polymeric materials often show low wear resistance, which limits their applications. Therefore, there is need for high wear resistance polymers or polymer composites for such application. In this study, wear resistance of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was improved by incorporating hydroxylated titanium dioxide (TD-OH) and functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (fGNPs). The composites were fabricated by solution blending and further processed by melt compounding. Raman and X-ray diffractometer were used to characterize the particles, while morphological study and wear scars on the composite samples were examined using scanning electron microscope. From the results obtained, wear volume (WV) reduced from about 0.6255 mm³ for pure PVDF to 0.2439 mm³ for 3.34 wt% fGNPs composite and further reduced to 0.1473 mm³ with the addition of 10 wt% TD-OH to 3.34 wt% fGNPs composite. These are about 61% and 76% reduction respectively, compared to pure PVDF. It was noted that increase in TD-OH content up to 20 wt% in fGNPs binary composites increased the WV of the ternary composites. This indicates that ceramic nano-fillers at appropriate proportions in polymer/graphene composites can enhance the wear resistance of such composites. On the other hand, the ternary composites showed lower thermal stability compared to the binary composites, which was attributed to low thermal stability product(s) of chemical reaction between fGNPs and TD-OH in the PVDF matrix.