Investigation of Tribological Behaviors of TiAl-Multilayer Graphene-Microsphere Composites at Different Applied Loads

Abstract

Tribological behaviors of TiAl-multilayer graphene-microsphere composites (TMMC) are investigated at different loads in this paper. The tribological results show that TMMC exhibit excellent wear and friction performances from 4 to 20 N for the formation of the intact and smooth tribo-films containing multilayer graphene (MLG) and WS2-SiO2 microsphere (WSM) on the worn surfaces. During the sliding process, MLG and WSM are ground out of TMMC to form the tribo-films on the worn surfaces, which is beneficial to the decreasing in friction coefficients and wear rates. MLG is easy to be sheared for the weak interlayer binding force, which can reduce the friction coefficients and wear rates. WSM can repair the tribo-film by filling its worn pits, resulting in the smooth worn surface and excellent tribological performance of TMMC. Moreover, the hardness of TMMC is increased for the addition of MLG and WSM, which makes contributions to the improvement of tribological behaviors of TMMC.