Study of inorganic fullerenes and carbon nanotubes by in situ Raman tribometry

Nanoparticles such as inorganic fullerenes of metal dichalcogenides or carbon nanotubes have been recently used as lubricant additives and they present excellent tribological properties. Raman spectroscopy is a useful technique to follow modification of these two structures. We developed an original tribometer able to perform in situ Raman analyses during sliding steel on a sapphire flat. These analyses gave unique information on real-time structural changes of nanoparticles inside the contact area: inorganic fullerenes are tribologically active by a progressive exfoliation process and carbon nanotubes is changed to amorphous carbon. Lubrication mechanism of these particles are explained in the light of analytical results.