High temperature friction and wear behavior of MoS2/Nb coating in ambient air

MoS2 coatings are well-known for their solid lubricant properties and used as self-lubricants in vacuum and inert gas environments, and such coatings are not used in atmospheric conditions because of their deteriorating tribology. The tribological performance of MoS2 solid lubricant coatings in the different atmospheres has been improved by the codeposition of a small amount of another metal. In this study, the tribological behavior of MoS2/Nb coatings was investigated in ambient air at temperatures up to 500°C by using high-temperature pin-on-disc tribo testers and alumina balls as counterfaces. MoS2/Nb coatings were deposited on silicon wafers and AISI 52100 steel substrate by closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The structural analyses of the coatings were performed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The hardness was measured using a microhardness tester.