Preparation and Performance of Low‐Friction and High‐Wear‐Resistant Polyphenylene Sulfide‐Based Porous Bearing Cage

ABSTRACT Maintaining stable rotation of aerospace bearings is crucial for ensuring efficient operation of space equipment. Specifically, the wear resistance of cages that provide continuous lubrication for aerospace bearings directly determines equipment life and reliability. However, the currently adopted porous bearing cages based on polyimide (PI) face numerous problems, such as high raw material costs, high water absorption rate, and environmentally unfriendly reagents used in PI synthesis. Stemming from the above issues, the low‐cost and high‐performance polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)‐based porous materials were prepared via cold‐pressing sintering process. Melamine formaldehyde resin (MF) was used as a pore‐forming agent and binder, while polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and carbon fiber (CF) micro‐powder served as modified fillers. It is suggested that PPS/MF10/PTFE10 and PPS/MF10/CF10 materials have suitable porosity, uniform pore size, good microstructure and “ink‐bottle pores” that are beneficial for oil storage. Meanwhile, friction tests show their low friction and high wear resistance. The friction coefficients are 0.044 and 0.067, while their specific wear rates are 3.32 × 10 ⁻⁵ mm ³ /(N·m) and 2.49 × 10 ⁻⁵ mm ³ /(N·m), respectively. Moreover, based on the friction test results under different friction loads and frequencies, it is found that the two materials are suitable for medium‐high load and medium‐low frequency, and medium‐high load and medium‐high frequency, respectively.