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Microtribological Performance of Au–MoS2 and Ti–MoS2 Coatings with Varying Contact Pressure

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Abstract

Solid lubricant coatings with co-sputtered metal and MoS2 have shown favorable macrotribological properties at a wide range of contact stresses and humidity levels. These materials are also candidates for use in microcontacts and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), but their performance at this scale is poorly understood. For this study, microtribological properties of Au–MoS2 and Ti–MoS2 coatings, with varying metal additives of less than 15 at%, were examined using a nanoindentation instrument. Titanium and gold were chosen for this study as metal additives due to their different influence on the mechanical properties of the coating. The hardness and reduced modulus of the coatings increased with the addition of metal, when compared to pure MoS2. Reciprocating microscratch tests were performed with two spherical diamond tips (50 and 10 μm radii) in dry air. A range of normal loads were used between 0.2 and 5.0 mN. Friction and wear measurements were analyzed with respect to the variation in the contact pressure and compared to literature studies performed at the macroscale. Correlations were found between the coating mechanical properties, tip-coating adhesion, interfacial shear strength, and the formation of transfer films and tribofilms.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT), program Établisssement de nouveaux chercheurs and Lorne Trottier for the graduate Fellowship (McGill Engineering Doctoral Award). This study was also supported under The Aerospace Corporation’s Mission Oriented Investigation and Experimentation program, funded by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center under Contract No. FA8802‐09‐C-0001. The authors acknowledge Zachary Fishman for his collaboration with the Matlab code. The assistance of Francois Barthelet in conducting atomic force microscopy measurements is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B2, Canada

    Pantcho Stoyanov, Richard R. Chromik & David Goldbaum

  2. Tribology Section, Spacecraft Materials Laboratory, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, 90245, USA

    Jeffrey R. Lince

  3. Teer Coating, Ltd., West Stone House, Berry Hill Industrial Estate, Droitwich, Worcestershire, WR9 9AS, UK

    Xiaoling Zhang

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  1. Pantcho Stoyanov
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  2. Richard R. Chromik
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Correspondence to Richard R. Chromik.

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Stoyanov, P., Chromik, R.R., Goldbaum, D. et al. Microtribological Performance of Au–MoS2 and Ti–MoS2 Coatings with Varying Contact Pressure. Tribol Lett 40, 199–211 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-010-9657-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-010-9657-6

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