Lubrication of Carbon-based Coatings

Abstract

With the development of precision manufacturing mechanical systems, interest in novel materials with improved mechanical properties has increased rapidly. In this regard, superior tribological properties of the materials are essential to achieve the appropriate level of reliability and lifetime of mechanical systems. Thus, various attempts in lowering the friction and wear have been proposed by applying new functional coatings on the mechanical components. Recently, CNTs and graphene are considered as one of the promising candidates for the solid lubricants due to high intrinsic mechanical properties and exceptional lubrication performance for prolonged lifetime of various mechanical components. In this work, we investigated the lubrication performance of the carbon-based coatings on a target substrate deposited using an electrohydrodynamic spraying process (ESP). The experimental results and corresponding analysis revealed that the carbon-based coatings deposited by ESP would aid in the advancement of precision mechanical systems in a wide range of tribological applications.