Metal–organic frameworks/polydopamine synergistic interface enhancement of carbon fiber/phenolic composites for promoting mechanical and tribological performances

Abstract

Carbon fiber/phenolic composites have wide application prospects in the transmission of vehicles, where the combination of prominent mechanical and tribological properties is required. Multiscale metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and polydopamine (PDA) as binary reinforcements were employed to construct a rigid–flexible hierarchical structure for improving the interfacial performances of friction materials. This unique rigid–flexible (MOFs/PDA) reinforcement could act as an effective interfacial linker, significantly facilitating the integration of fibers into the matrix and establishing a strong mechanical interlocking and chemical bonding onto the fiber/matrix interphase, thus boosting the mechanical and tribological properties of the composites. Benefiting from the MOF/PDA synergistic enhancement effects, the interlaminar shear strength of ZIF-8-composites (P1), MOF-5-composites (P2) and UiO-66-(COOH)₂-composites (P3) was improved by 70.80%, 43.80% and 53.28%, respectively. In addition, the wear rate of P1 decreased from 3.55 × 10⁻⁸ cm³ J⁻¹ to 2.45 × 10⁻⁸ cm³ J⁻¹. This work provides a feasible approach for establishing rigid–flexible reinforced structures and opens up a double-component synergistic enhancement strategy to efficiently promote mechanical and tribological properties for fabricating high-performance carbon fiber/phenolic composites.