Structural Model of Frictional Processes for Polymer/Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites

Abstract—It has been shown that the tribological characteristics of nanocomposites of polymer/carbon nanotubes are determined by the same parameters as the other properties of these nanomaterials. These parameters are the properties of the matrix polymer, structure, and nanofiller contents. In turn, the structure of nanofillers, treated as annular formations of carbon nanotubes, determines both their degree of aggregation and level of interphase interactions. This leads to a change in the control tribological characteristics of nanocomposites via a target-oriented change of the nanofiller structure, for example, by functionalization.