Structure, tribotechnical, and thermophysical characteristics of the fluoroplastic carbonnanotubes material

In this work, we studied a nanocomposite material made from fluoroplastic which contains 20 wt.% multi-walled nanotubes. In order to complete the present work, we have used different thermodynamic and mechanical techniques. The introduction of nanotubes in the F4 polymer matrix has completely changed the tribological and thermodynamic properties of the studied nanocomposite material. The compression strength becomes 20% higher than that of the F4 polymer matrix. Meanwhile the wear resistance achieves an order of magnitude 100 times greaterthan that of F4. Moreover, a friction coefficient is about 25% to 30% lower than that of a similar material and especially that of F4 material. Differential scanning calorimetric study showed that the glassy phase transition appears at about 330°C, which confirms that the degradation of the studied nanocomposite occurs at relatively higher temperature. This result confirms the one concerning the change in tribological properties. Dilatometric study revealed that the thermal expansion coefficient has been increased. The observed relative elongation measurement change depends on the direction along which the measurement has been done and confirms, in turn, the anisotropic character of the studied material. These results suggest that the metallic materials could be replaced by nanocomposite compounds which present good physical properties.