Achieving the excellent self-lubricity and low wear of TiAl intermetallics through the addition of copper coated graphite

The present work achieves excellent lubricity and low wear of TiAl intermetallics by the addition of low-cost copper-coated graphite. 50% reduction of friction and more than one magnitude lower wear rate were obtained. This superior tribological property is attributed to the formation of a soft tribo-film and a synergetic effect of in-situ formed harder TiC reinforcement. This tribo-film contains some graphite nanoplatelets, shell-like carbon, TiC particles and the mixture of some oxides. This work is helpful not only for the development of new solid self-lubricating composites but also promotes a scientific understanding of the tribo-film of solid lubricants.