Mechanical and tribological properties of self-lubricating laminated composites with flexible design

The laminated composites reinforced with the strong and weak layers were fabricated by lamination-bonding process in compliance with bionic multilayer structures. The strong layers were silicon steel sheets and the weak layers were polymer matrix filled with MoS2 and graphite. The mechanical and tribological properties of laminated composites with flexible design were investigated. The experimental results showed that the laminated composites have excellent load bearing capacity. Moreover, the laminated composites exhibit remarkable low friction and high wear resistance, which has friction coefficient of 0.15 and wear rate of 3.8 × 10−7 mm3/N m when the filling ratio (a ratio of thickness of the weak layers to thickness of the laminated composites) is 40%. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the worn surfaces indicated that the wear mechanism is abrasive wear at the filling ratio of 20% and the wear mechanism is adhesion wear at the filling ratio above 20%. The laminated composites have good mechanical and excellent self-lubricating properties, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of the laminated structure and the formation of transfer film along the sliding path.