Preparation and lubrication properties of graphene oxide/polyethylene glycol/polyvinyl alcohol composite film

In the rotating parts of large mechanical equipment, the existence of friction and wear will inevitably cause energy consumption and loss. Coating a layer of solid lubricating material on the surface of mechanical equipment is an effective means to reduce friction and wear. In this study, for the first time, a composite film with high mechanical and lubricating properties was prepared by hot-pressing the mixture of graphene oxide (GO), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Its structure and properties were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The lubrication and tribological properties of GO-PEG-PVA composite film and other single films under different lubrication conditions were analyzed. The lubrication characteristics of GO-PEG-PVA composite film under oil lubrication were discussed in detail. The results show that the surface coating with GO-PEG-PVA can ensure a lower friction coefficient, especially in the condition of oil lubrication, the friction coefficient is 82% lower than that without oil film. The hot pressing process ensures that the surface morphology will not produce large shear deformation. The lubrication mechanism and lubrication model were discussed in detail, and the concept of improving surface lubrication performance by co-lubrication was put forward.