Effect of Carbon Nanotube on the Oscillating Wear Behaviour of Metal-PTFE Multilayer Composites

Two kinds of metal-PTFE multilayer composites, which were composed of a steel backing, a middle layer of sintered porous bronze and a surface layer of polytetrafluoroethylene（PTFE） filled by carbon nanotubes（CNTs） or not, were prepared. The wear properties of metal-PTFE multilayer composites oscillating against 45 carbon steel under dry condition were evaluated on an oscillating wear tester, and the effect of CNTs on wear behaviour of metal-PTFE multilayer composites was studied. The results showed that the worn surface of metal-PTFE multilayer composites was characterized by adhesive wear, abrasive wear and fatigue wear. The CNTs greatly increased the adhesion strength of PTFE in the metal-PTFE composites and thereby greatly reduced puck, ploughing, and fatigue failure of PTFE during wearing. The PTFE filled with CNTs prevented direct contact between the mating surfaces and served as fine self-lubricating film, in which the oscillating wear mechanism of the composites was changed to a slightly adhesive wear. Therefore, the CNTs significantly decreased the weight loss and obviously increased the wear resistance of metal-PTFE multilayer composites.

Nano-scale compositional oscillation and phase intergrowth in Cu_(2)S_(0.5)Se_(0.5) and their role in thermal transport

Solid solution alloying is a promising strategy to establish high performance thermoelectrics.By alloying different elements,phase structures and phase compositions may vary accompanied by appearance of variety of interesting microstructures including mass fluctuation,lattice strain,nano-scale defects and spinodal decomposition,all of which may greatly influence the electrical and specifically the thermal transport of the material.In the present study,atomic structures of Cu_(2)S_(0.5)Se_(0.5) solid solution have been examined by using atom-resolved electron microscopy in order to investigate the structure-correlated physical insights for the abnormal thermal transport in this solid solution.Then the exceptional intergrowth nanostructures were observed.The solid solution consists of two high symmetrical phases,i.e.the hexagonal and cubic phase,which alternately intergrow to form highly oriented ultra-thin lamellae of nano or even,unit cell scales.The compositional oscillation in Se/S atomic ratio during alloying is responsible for the phase stability and intergrowth nanostructures.The unique binary phase intergrowth nanostructures make great contribution to the ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity comparable to glass and extremely short phonon mean free path of only 1.04Å,peculiar continuous hexagonal-to-cubic structural transformation without a critical transition temperature and its corresponding abnormal changes of thermal characters with temperatures.The present study further evokes the unlimited possibilities and potentials for tailoring nanostructures by alloying for improved thermoelectric performance.