Wear and friction behavior of wrinkled-Ti3C2Tx /epoxy composites

Herein, the tribological behavior of the epoxy/wrinkled-Ti3C2Tx MXene composites against 440C stainless steel under dry sliding conditions was investigated. Due to the inherent brittleness and poor wear resistance of epoxy resin, wrinkled-Ti3C2Tx MXenes (delaminated using MTHPA: methyl tetrahydrophthalic anhydride) were incorporated in various concentrations (0.1-1 Wt.%). The sliding experiments showed little impact of MXenes’ addition on the friction coefficient values. Meanwhile, the wear resistance of epoxy was significantly improved, particularly with 0.2 wt% MXene, showing a 91.82% improvement. This improvement of the epoxy’s wear properties at a low MXene concentration is attributed to the homogenous MXene distribution and strong interfacial adhesion. The present study opens up new horizons for the application of epoxy/wrinkled-Ti3C2Tx MXene nanocomposites as dry sliding wear components.