Wear behaviour of graphene platelets reinforced WC-Co cemented carbide

Abstract

The wear behaviour of WC-Co cemented carbide reinforced with graphene platelets (WC-Co-GPLs composite) was investigated. The tribological parameters as friction coefficient and wear rate were measured using a ball-on-plate configuration with different contact loads. The microstructures and worn surfaces of composites were studied. The WC-Co-GPLs composite exhibits significantly better tribological properties in comparison to the WC-Co which is most evident at contact load of 80 N, where the friction coefficient and wear rate of the WC-Co-GPLs composite are 0.339 and 9.27 × 10−6 mm3·(m·N)−1, respectively. The improvement in wear behaviour of WC-Co-GPLs composite is attributed to the formation of the tribofilm during the wear test and enhancement of mechanical properties of the WC-Co-GPLs composite. The pulled-out GPLs attaches on the worn surface contribute to the formation of tribofilms during tribology test, especially at higher loads. The tribofilms protect the WC-Co-GPLs from wear and guarantee the integrity of the worn surface.