Constructing a honeycomb-inspired Ni-Co LDHs@CFs enhanced polymer composites with high strength, aging resistance and excellent anti-wear for tribological applications

The development of carbon fibers/polymer composites (CFPCs) has made a profound impact on varied application prospects in the transmission and braking fields, where interface engineering between fibers/matrix holds the key to co-enhanced mechanical and tribological properties. Herein, we designed a honeycomb-inspired Ni-Co layered double hydroxides (Ni-Co LDHs) modified CFPCs, in which Ni-Co LDHs interconnected nanosheets were grown in-situ onto the carbon fibers (CFs) surface via the oxidation-assisted hydrothermal method, and then polymer matrix fully impregnate and filled with both the CFs and LDHs porous containers by capillary forces. Benefiting from the special interface, the Ni-Co LDHs grafted CFs reinforced polymer composites (Ni-Co LDHs@CFs composites) possessed the excellent mechanical strength and outstanding tribological properties. The LDHs@CFs composites had 32% improvement in the tensile strength, and 84.9% strength retention ratio after the hydrothermal aging process. Furthermore, the friction coefficient was increased by 24% and wear rate was dramatically decreased by 42% from 6.148 × 10 −14 to 3.557 × 10 −14 m 3 (N m) −1 , indicating better torque transmitting capacity and anti-wear properties. This work could provide a valuable reference for the construction of biomimetic interface to simultaneously improve the mechanical and tribological properties of the CFPCs.