Combined Effect of Microstructure, Surface Energy, and Adhesion Force on the Friction of PVA/Ferrite Spinel Nanocomposites

Nanocomposite films based on spinel ferrite (Mg0.8Zn0.2Fe1.5Al0.5O4) in a PVA matrix were obtained. An increase in the spinel concentration to 10 wt.% caused an avalanche-like rise in roughness due to the formation of nanoparticle agglomerates. The lateral mode of atomic force microscopy (AFM) allowed us to trace the agglomeration dynamics. An unexpected result was that the composite with 6 wt.% of filler had a low friction coefficient in comparison with similar composites due to the successfully combined effects of low roughness and surface energy. The friction coefficient decreased to 0.07 when the friction coefficient of pure PVA was 0.72. A specially developed method for measuring nano-objects’ surface energy using AFM made it possible to explain the anomalous nature of the change in tribological characteristics.