Diamond powders less than 100 nm in diameter as effective solid lubricants in vacuum

The frictional behavior of detonation nanodiamond and single-crystal fine diamond powders were studied to determine the effect of particle diameter on their lubricative and abrasive characteristics. In vacuum, nanodiamond with an average aggregate size of 75 nm and mechanically crushed single-crystal diamond powders with an average diameter of 50 nm formed a uniform lubricating layer while sliding against a SiC ball and showed very low friction coefficients of 0.03 and less than 0.01, respectively, under moderate conditions of 0.5 N applied load and 3.5 mm/s sliding speed. A clear tendency was observed for both the friction coefficient and specific wear rates to decrease with decreasing particle/aggregate size.