Experimental and numerical study on the tribological behaviors of porous PEEK/MoS ₂ composites with poly-α-olefin

In recent years, self-lubricating composites have attracted much attention and shown great potential for application. This study successfully prepared a series of porous PEEK/MoS 2 composites by the template extraction method, and their mechanical and tribological properties were systematically evaluated. The experimental results show that under a load of 30 N, the coefficient of friction, wear rate, and wear volume of the porous oil-containing composite with a porosity of 4.8% are reduced by 87.25%, 83.87%, and 83.88%, respectively, compared to the porous oil-free composite. Additionally, the finite element analysis model based on a Voronoi structure was constructed using Rhino software, and the experimentally obtained wear rate was calibrated into the simulation using ANSYS to predict the wear behavior of the porous PEEK/MoS 2 composites. The comparison between the simulated and experimental wear volumes showed that the deviation was within 10%, demonstrating the acceptable accuracy and reliability of the model. This provides important theoretical support and new insights for the innovative design and optimization of self-lubricating polymer materials in tribological applications.