ABSTRACT
Self-lubricating composites have been available for a long time and are used rather extensively by industry to combat friction and wear in a variety of sliding, rolling, and rotating bearing applications. In the case of polymers, a significant increase in mechanical strength was also observed and thought to be responsible for high wear resistance. For efficient tribo-composites apart from a thermally stable matrix, other requirements are of right reinforcement and solid lubricants. Epoxy resins do typically exhibit relatively high wear rates and coefficients of friction when dry sliding against steel counterfaces. The main objective of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites is to optimize the wear of the PTFE itself toward low wear while keeping low friction. However, a certain wear is needed to enable the formation of a transfer film on the counter disc or on races in ball bearings. Organic montmorillonite/phenolic nanocomposites, which worked as hybrid matrices to be combined with the woven fabric for fabricating self-lubricating liner.
