Heterostructured three-dimension MXene/short carbon fiber to enhance thermal, mechanical and tribological properties of epoxy composites

Polymer composites play an essential role in the field of friction materials. However, severe environment is still big challenges for their application. Three-dimension MXene/short carbon fiber (SCF) was prepared to improve the thermal, mechanical, and tribological performance of epoxy resin. When the mass ratio of MXene to SCF is 1:150, the MXenes are uniformly anchored on the surface of SCF under the strong hydrogen bonding interaction, leading to stable heterostructure and abundant surface functional groups. Owing to the excellent synergy between the MXene and SCF, the modified epoxy composite exhibits superior mechanical and thermal properties, as well as high thermal conductivity. Moreover, it has excellent tribological performance with an average friction coefficient of 0.44 and a specific wear rate of 3.0 × 10 - 6 mm 3 ·N - 1 ⋅m - 1 in 2 hours, which reduced by 35.3% and 97.1% than those of epoxy resin, respectively.