Dry sliding and boundary lubrication performance of a UHMWPE/CNTs nanocomposite coating on steel substrates at elevated temperatures

▶ Nanocomposite coating of UHMWPE with CNT has shown extremely high wear durability and low friction as a boundary lubricant on steel surface even at higher temperatures up to 120 °C in dry condition and 105 °C in base oil lubricated conditions. ▶ A PFPE overcoat on the UHMWPE-CNT nanocomposite coating is very effective in reducing the coefficient of friction from 0.14 to 0.09 under dry conditions. ▶ The nanocomposite coating showed excellent performance when compared to that of the DLC coatings, especially in terms of low coefficient of friction and nearly no wear of the coating, substrate or the counterface materials.