In this study, cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoflowers were uniformly grown on the surface of chromium aluminum carbide (Cr₂AlC) particles via a simple and efficient coprecipitation approach, which resulted in the preparation of the hybrids referred to as Cr₂AlC@CeO₂. The CeO₂ nanoparticles exhibited a capacity to alternate between the oxidation states of Ce³⁺ and Ce⁴⁺ under stress, forming a protective layer to repair damaged surfaces and reduce friction and wear at the nanoscale. The Cr₂AlC@CeO₂ hybrids were utilized to enhance the tribological performance of carbon fiber (CF) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fiber blended fabric (CF/PTFE fabric) phenolic composites, and the friction test indicated that when the filler content reached 4.0 wt%, the wear rate of the fabric composites was 2.79×10⁻¹⁴ m³·N⁻¹·m⁻¹, which was 59% lower than that of the pure composites, and the coefficient of friction decreased by 39%. This enhancement was attributed to the formation of an adaptive tribofilm with a thickness ranging from 85 to 113 nm on the corresponding surface. The analysis of the worn surface and the tribofilm revealed a synergistic enhancement effect of Cr₂AlC and CeO₂. The Cr₂AlC@CeO₂-reinforced fabric composites (Cr₂AlC@CeO₂/fabric composites) exhibited the best wear resistance because of the superior load-bearing capacity of Cr₂AlC and the outstanding lubricating properties of CeO₂.

Polymer-textile liner composites have potential applications in aerospace applications for reducing the abrasion damage of moving parts during operation owing to their self-lubrication, light weight, and high loading capacity. Herein, Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) are successfully loaded into the lumen of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) to construct an HNTs‒Au peasecod core‒shell nanosystem to optimize the wear resistance of phenolic resin-based poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO)/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) textile composites. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) characterization reveals that the AuNPs are well-dispersed inside the HNTs, with an average diameter of 6‒9 nm. The anti-wear performance of the HNTs and Au-reinforced PBO/PTFE composites is evaluated using a pin-on-disk friction tester at 100 MPa. Evidently, the addition of HNTs‒Au induces a 27.9% decrease in the wear rate of the composites. Possible anti-wear mechanisms are proposed based on the analyzed results of the worn surface morphology and the cross-section of the tribofilm obtained by focused ion beam transmission electron microscopy.