The preparation of carbon nanotube (CNT)/copper composites and the effect of the number of CNT walls on their hardness, friction and wear properties

Carbon nanotubes with 2, 3, 8 and 20 walls are mixed with a copper powder (micrometer sized) and consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The microhardness of resulting composites is found to be over 50% higher than that for Cu and the friction coefficient against a steel ball is decreased by a factor of 3–4 while the wear and wear rate are reduced by a factor of 10–20. Raman maps of selected specimens outside and inside the worn surface show that double-wall carbon nanotubes remain intact. The reasons for the effect of the number of walls and carbon content are discussed.