Excellent tribological properties of epoxy—Ti3C2 with three-dimensional nanosheets composites

Abstract

As a widely used engineering polymer, epoxy resin has been successfully employed in high-performance components and setups. However, the poor thermal and friction properties of traditional epoxy resin greatly limit its application in many extreme environments. In this work, a new kind of epoxy-Ti3C2 with three-dimensional nanosheets (3DNS) composite which was designed by freeze-drying method showed up excellent thermal and friction properties. As a result, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of epoxy-Ti3C2 3DNS 3.0 composites was 41.9 ppm/K at 40 °C, which was lower than that of the traditional epoxy resin (46.7 ppm/K), and the thermal conductivity (TC) was also improved from 0.176 to 0.262 W/(m·K). Meanwhile, epoxy-Ti3C2 3DNS 1.0 composites showed up the best friction property, with wear rate 76.3% lower than that of epoxy resin. This work is significant for the research of high-performance composite materials.