Friction and wear study of PTFE composites filled with Nano-TiO₂ and carbon fiber

The friction and wear properties of CF/PTFE composites filled with different content nano-TiO₂ have been studied in this article. The worn surfaces were investigated by SEM, the abrasive dust and transfer films were studied by optical microscope. Also the abrasion mechanism of CF/PTFE composites filled with nano-TiO₂ was discussed. The results reveal that nano-TiO₂ and carbon fiber can cooperate with each other in their dimension, and the composites filled with proper contents of nano-TiO₂ and carbon fiber can show obvious tribological synergistic effects. Nano-TiO₂ in the CF/PTFE composites is helpful to form uniform and compacted transfer film, and changes the formation mechanism of abrasive dust, which greatly improves the wear resistance of PTFE composites. The composite filled with 10%CF and 5% nano-TiO₂ has the best wear resistance, the wear resistance increases 2.77 times and the size of the abrasive dust is only 1/20 of that composite without nano-TiO₂.