Friction and Wear Reduction of Tungsten Carbide and Titanium Alloy Contacts via Graphene Nanolubricant

The tribological behavior of graphene as an additive in a water-based nanofluid lubricant was investigated using pin-on-disk tests on titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and cemented tungsten carbide (WC–Co) contacts. The effect of graphene concentration and surface roughness was investigated. A non-monotonic trend of friction and wear with increasing concentration was observed. An optimal graphene concentration of 0.10 wt.% was found to provide the lowest friction and wear at different surface roughnesses, with the friction, specific wear rate of the sample surface, and tip wear reduced by 29%, 37%, and 95%, respectively. The friction reduction and anti-wear performance of the nanofluids increased as the sample surface roughness increased. The non-monotonic friction and wear trends can be explained by the agglomeration of graphene around the contact zone, where too small a graphene concentration does not provide enough lubrication and too high a concentration prevents sliding owing to a large amount of agglomeration particles at the contact. The superior friction and wear performance of the graphene nanolubricants demonstrate its potential in minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and other applications.