Tribological properties of fluorinated carbon nanofibres

This work is concerned with the study of the tribological properties of fluorinated carbon nanofibres with various fluorination rates. The tribological tests, carried out in the presence of pentane and in air after liquid's evaporation demonstrate good friction properties for all the compounds (the friction coefficients ranging between 0.04 and 0.06 in the presence of pentane and between 0.07 and 0.09 in air). Raman analyses reveal that the friction process induces a partial deterioration of the carbon fibres and SEM studies show that the tribofilm is composed of individual fibres embedded in a more disordered carbonaceous matrix. The fibrous nature of the tribofilm and the experimental relationship between friction coefficient and fluorination rate strongly support that friction properties of fluorinated carbon nanofibres are governed by surface fibres interaction. The modification of the nanofibres surface tension by action of pentane or optimum fluorination rate leads to a lowering of interfibres interactions resulting in an improvement of the friction properties.