Study on Tribological and Mechanical Properties of HA/TNT/CNT composite

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a good bioactive material, but shows relatively low fracture toughness values in mechanical tests. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have a relative high elastic modulus and compressive strength, are considered to be ideal reinforcing material. In addition, Titanium nanotubes (TNT) have been widely studied because of its unique properties in different applications from biomedical engineering to energy. In this study, HA/TNT/CNT nanocompositewas synthesized using combination of sol gel and hydrothermal techniques. The tribological and mechanical properties of HA/TNT and HA/TNT/CNT composite (different percentage radios of CNT: 1.0 weight%, 1.5 weight%, and 2.0 weight%) were investigated. The structure and morphology of the composites were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The consolidation process was performed by sintering the composite at 1050??? under an argon gas atmosphere. The hardness test results show that HA/TNT/CNT (2.0 wt%) composite exhibited the best surface hardness (235.9 HV) compare to the others. The wear resistance of samples was evaluated under 3.78 N normal loading. The wear rate of HA/TNT/CNT with higher CNT content shows decreased compared to the other samples.Maste