Carbon nanotubes enhancement of tribological and nanomechanical properties of PVDF-BN nanocomposites

Abstract There have been continuous efforts to further promote various properties of polymeric materials to meet various industrial demands, especially in the area of thermal, electrical, mechanical and wear properties. This study developed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-boron nitride (BN) nanocomposites and significantly enhanced their wear and nanomechanical properties by incorporating very low content of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The nanocomposites were developed via simple technique of solution mixing and hot compression. Scanning electron microscope showed that the nanocomposites achieved uniform microstructure with no significant agglomeration of the nanoparticles in the PVDF matrix. The wear rate of PVDF-10wt%BN-0.1wt%CNT was reduced from 5.68 × 10 –4 and 5 × 10 –3 mm 3 /Nm for pure PVDF to 1.6 × 10 –6 and 8 × 10 –6 mm 3 /Nm at applied loads of 10 N and 20 N, respectively. Also, an increase in hardness and elastic modulus of 225% and 219% for PVDF-10wt%BN-0.1wt%CNT was obtained relative to the pure PVDF at 100-mN applied load. While the nanocomposite showed about 75% and 103% increments compared to PVDF-10wt%BN at 100 mN. This study revealed that the addition of small amount of CNT could further improve the wear and mechanical properties of PVDF-BN as well as any other polymer-ceramic binary systems various advanced engineering applications.