Tribological simulation of porous self-lubricating PEEK composites with heat-stress coupled field

• A novel 2D model reflecting porous structure of PEEK composite is proposed.
• Tribological properties of PEEK composite are discussed by simulation and experiment.
• Self-lubricating mechanism and porosity׳s effects of composite are revealed.
• Simulated results are consistent with experimental results with errors less than 7%.

A novel two-dimensional (2D) model was developed and heat-stress coupled field was applied to reveal the self-lubricating process and effects of porosity on tribological properties of porous PEEK composites by finite element (FE) analysis. Results indicated that the numerical distributions of temperature, displacement and stress were accurately calculated by using heat-stress coupled field analysis. Porosity was crucial for the self-lubricating properties of porous PEEK composites. By experimental verification, the simulated results were consistent with the experimental results with the maximal errors less than 7%. The FE analysis using heat-stress coupled field was effective to study the self-lubricating behaviors of porous polymer composites.