Investigation of the thermal and tribological properties of epoxy composite reinforced with aramid nanofiber/OMMT hybrid aerogel.

[Display omitted] • Aramid nanofiber/OMMT (AAM) hybrid aerogel with hierarchical framework was fabricated through freeze-drying process. • The thermal conduction pathway established by the AAM aerogel within the EP matrix. • Aramid nanofiber/OMMT-EP composites exhibited excellent thermal and tribology performances. • The synergistic reinforcing effects of ANFs and OMMT for EP matrix was discussed and highlighted. Epoxy resin (EP) is widely used in engineering moving components, but it remains a great challenge to address the high brittleness, low thermal properties and poor wear rate for real tribological application. We reported a robust ANFs/OMMT hybrid aerogel (AAM) with hierarchical framework through freeze-drying process. Thanks to the potent interfacial interaction between ANFs and OMMT, abundant rigid skeleton was constructed in the aerogel. Then the epoxy resin was introduced into ANFs/OMMT hybrid aerogel to establish a bicontinuous phase structure. As a result, ANFs/OMMT-EP materials with superior tribological properties were obtained with respect to pure EP. The outstanding friction performance was owing to the synergistic wear resistance mechanism of the ANFs and OMMT as well as the generation of high-quality transfer film during the sliding time. Meanwhile, the AAM hybrid aerogel constructed a 3D thermal conductive pathway inside the EP matrix to effectively inhibit the accumulation of frictional heat during the sliding process. This work could be significant for the expansion of aerogel in friction applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]