A strategy to improve tribological performances of solvent-based phenol−formaldehyde resin by using oil-containing nanocapsules

Enhancing the tribological properties of immersed resin is a common and effective method to prolong the service life of aero self-lubricating spherical plain bearing. Herein, using hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (HMCNs) as containers, the oil-containing carbon nanocapsules (Oil@C), which were obtained by the incipient wetness impregnation method, were applied as reinforced particles to improve the tribological properties of solvent-based phenol−formaldehyde (PF) resin. Specifically speaking, the Oil@C was monodispersed and uniform with the diameter of 190 nm, shell thickness of 12.5 nm and oil containing rate of 70.59 wt%. With the content of Oil@C reach to 5 wt%, the coefficient of friction (COF) of PF composite decreased about 81.9% (from 0.54 to 0.098). Moreover, the service life of the PF composite prolonged greatly, from 460 s to 5 h. According to the analyzation of morphology and transfer film of the friction pairs, it revealed that the released oil played a key role in the realization of self-lubricating property of PF composites, inhibiting the transfer of PF resin and exfoliation of coating. However, there were different degrees of decline occurred on the shear strength of the PF composites, which needs further improvement.