In order to study the influence of ring material on the performance of self-lubricated spherical plain bearings,a thermo-mechanical coupling model based on ABAQUS software was established. The performance difference of spherical plain bearing of 2024 aluminum alloy and GCr15 was analyzed under certain working conditions,including the magnitude of equivalent stress,heat conduction process of friction pair,distribution of contact stress and temperature. Results showed that the equivalent stress of the ring of the aluminum alloy bearing was less than the minimum yield stress,which can meet the use requirements,meanwhile,the equivalent stress of the liner was reduced by 35.4%,and the liner of the aluminum alloy bearing reached the stable thermal state faster than the GCr15 bearing. In addition,the frictional contact stress of the aluminum alloy bearing was reduced by 15.4%, the temperature of ring was reduced by 2 ℃ the temperature of liner was reduced by 15.7 ℃,and the stress and temperature distributions of inner ring and liner were more uniform. In summary,the 2024 aluminum alloy spherical plain bearings had longer wear life and better performance than GCr15 bearings in some cases. The temperature rise process and temperature distribution of the GCr15 bearing were verified by experiments,which were in good agreement with the results of finite element analysis.