Ultralow friction and wear behaviour of Ni/Y-based single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) present interesting tribological properties under boundary lubrication at ambient temperature. Used as additive to PAO base oil, SWNTs lead to a decrease of both friction and wear of antagonist steel surfaces. With only 1 wt% of nanotubes added to polyalphaolefin (PAO), the friction coefficient is 0.08. This result is obtained under several contact pressures (from 0.83 to 1.42 GPa). Characterisation of nanotubes by analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) before and after friction testing is used to understand how nanotubes behave in the contact area.