The friction and wear characteristics of carbon fiber phenolic composites are important because carbon fiber phenolic composites are increasingly employed in journal bearing materials. Since the friction and wear characteristics of phenolic composites have been mainly investigated under dry sliding conditions, in this work, wear characteristics were experimentally investigated both under dry sliding and oil-lubrication conditions. Nano-size particles were mixed in the surface layers of the composite specimens to improve their wear characteristics. From the observation of morphology of failed composite, a wear stage of carbon-phenolic composite is proposed. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.