Experimental and statistical investigation on the wear and hardness behaviour of multiwalled carbon nanotubes reinforced copper nanocomposites

Abstract

In this experimental work the two parameter Weibull distribution statistical method is used to investigate the effect of fabrication process on the wear and hardness properties of multiwalled carbon nanotubes reinforced copper nanocomposites (MWCNTs/Cu). The MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites are fabricated by the powder metallurgy processing route in two ways (i) MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites without hot pressing (NHP-MWCNTs/Cu) and (ii) MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites with hot pressing (HP-MWCNTs/Cu). The MWCNTs doping weight percentage (wt.%) include 0.0 (Pure copper), 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites are subjected to hardness and wear tests using micro-Vickers hardness tester and rotating type pin-on-disc tribometer, respectively. From the experimental results it is found that the MWNTs/Cu nanocomposites have higher hardness and lower wear rate than the pure Cu. Further, the HP-MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites showed higher hardness and lower wear rate than the NHP-MWCNTs/C nanocomposites. From statistical analysis it is found that the HP-MWCTs/Cu nanocomposites showed more reliable and repeatable experimental data than the NHP-MWCNTs/Cu nanocomposites. Statistical analysis showed that the effectiveness of MWCNTs doping on the wear rate of Cu is more effective at lower sliding speed. Finally, it is observed form the statistical analysis that both theoretical and experimental results of hardness and wear tests showed good correlation.