Enhancement of tribological properties of polymer composites reinforced by functionalized graphene

Abstract Polymer composites reinforced by pristine and functionalized graphene are investigated to identify the improvement of tribological properties of polymer composites. A pull-out process is conducted to study the interfacial interactions between polymer matrices and graphene reinforcements using molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular layer models containing Fe atoms as the top nano-layer are built to study the enhancement of tribological properties of the polymer composites by sliding the top Fe nano-layer on the surface of the polymer matrix. The simulation results show that decreases of about 13% and 42.3% in the average friction coefficient and abrasion rate of the functionalized graphene/polymer composites can be achieved. In order to provide the understandings of the findings, the interfacial interaction energy, RDF values between graphene and polymer matrix are particularly calculated and discussed.