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

Abstract 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.