Review of advanced fabric composite liners for enhancing tribological performance on self-lubricating joint bearings

Abstract Self-lubricating joint bearings play an important role in the field of aviation because they have advantageous attributes of simple structures, strong load-bearing capacity and free maintenance. Fabric composite liners, as an emerging frictional material for self-lubricating spherical bearings, have been widely studied due to their long service life, design flexibility and self-lubrication characteristics. Recently, the increasing use of fabric composite liners has promoted extensive investigation into enhancing their tribological properties. In this review, the research progress of fabric composite liner is summarized, which mainly includes external experimental parameters, fabric weaving methods, surface modification techniques and resin filling strategies. Finally, key challenges and future directions of advanced fabric composite liners with enhanced tribological performance are examined along with an analysis of possible solutions.