Tribological Behavior of UHMWPE Reinforced with Graphene Oxide Nanosheets

In this article, a series of graphene oxide (GO)/ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composites are successfully fabricated through an optimized toluene-assisted mixing followed by hot-pressing. The mechanical and tribological properties of pure UHMWPE and the GO/UHMWPE composites are investigated using a micro-hardness tester and a high speed reciprocating friction testing machine. Also, the wear surfaces of GO/UHMWPE composites are observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), to analyze the tribological behavior of the GO/UHMWPE composites. The results show that, when the content of GO nanosheets is up to 1.0 wt%, both the hardness and wear resistance of the composites are improved significantly, while the friction coefficient increases lightly. After adding GO, the tribological behavior of the GO/UHMWPE composites transforms from fatigue wear to abrasive wear associated with the generation of a transfer layer on the contact surface, which efficiently reduced the wear rate of the GO/UHMWPE composites.