Tribological and electrical behavior of Cu-based composites with addition of Ti-doped NbSe₂ nanoplatelets

This paper aims to clarify the size and morphology of transition metal dichalcogenides has an impact on lubrication performance of Cu-based composites. This study is intended to show that Cu-based electrical contact materials containing Nb_0.91Ti0.09Se₂ have better electrical and tribological properties than those containing NbSe₂. The tribological properties of Cu-based with different Ti-dopped NbSe₂ content were also discussed.

The NbSe₂ and Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ particles were fabricated by thermal solid state reaction method. The powder metallurgy technique was used to fabricate composites with varying Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ mass fraction. The phase composition of Cu-based composites was identified by X-ray diffraction, and the morphology of NbSe₂/Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ and the worn surface of composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the tribological properties of composites were appraised using a ball-on-disk multi-functional tribometer. The data of friction coefficient and resistivity were analyzed and the corresponding conclusion was drawn.

In comparison with the pure copper, Cu-based composites containing Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂/NbSe₂ had a lower friction coefficient, illustrating the Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ with nano-size particles prepared in this work is a perfect choice for the fabrication of excellent electrical contact composites. Compared to composites with NbSe₂, composites containing Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ have better tribological and electrical properties.

Because of the use of thermal solid state reaction method, the size of NbSe₂ and Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ is relatively large. Therefore, the fabrication of finer particles of Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ is encouraged.

In this paper, the authors discuss the tribological and electrical properties of Cu-based composites, and the value of optimum obtained as Nb_0.91Ti_0.09Se₂ content is 15 Wt.%.