Tribological Aspects of Graphene-Aluminum Nanocomposites

Abstract

Graphene is a new class of material in carbon group with strong sp 2 -hybridized 2D-sheet like nanomaterial. In order to make an effective utilization of their astounding properties, they are currently used in the form of reinforcements in various proportions in metals and its alloys to fabricate the nanocomposites. Graphene is incorporated in oil and grease at nano range that results in higher load-carrying capacity compared with that of raw grease and oils without additives, which shows that graphene possesses self-lubricating capacity. Graphene is a planar sheet-like structure (2D), with more contact surface area in the developed composites that can make them suitable for industrial applications with well-established tribological performance. The novelty of this work focuses on the role of graphene addition in enhancing the wear performance aluminum composites to replace the conventional materials by graphene composite combinations. The current chapter explains the processing and tribological performance of graphene-aluminum composites and its effect with various hybrid combinations of MWCNT/SiC/Al 2 O 3 . Dispersion of graphene is carried out through ultrasonic liquid processor followed by ball-milling aluminum powder. Thus prepared precursors are vacuum-pressed and microwave-sintered. Graphene in the nanocomposites has resulted in significantly improving the tribological properties, where it gives the wear resistance by creating a solid, lubricant layer between the sliding surfaces.