Quality Control Metrics to Assess MoS2 Sputtered Films for Tribological Applications

Tomas F. Babuska, John F. Curry, Michael T. Dugger, Morgan R. Jones, Frank W. DelRio, Ping Lu, Yan Xin, Tomas Grejtak, Robert Chrostowski, Filippo Mangolini, Nicholas C. Strandwitz, Md Istiaque Chowdhury, Gary L. Doll, Brandon A. Krick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pure molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) solid lubricant coatings could attain densities comparable to doped films (and the associated benefits to wear rate and environmental stability) through manipulation of the microstructure via deposition parameters. Unfortunately, pure films can exhibit highly variable microstructures and mechanical properties due to processes that are not controlled during deposition (i.e., batch-to-batch variation). This work focuses on developing a relationship between density, hardness, friction, and wear for pure sputtered MoS2 coatings. Results show that dense films (ρ = 4.5 g/cm3) exhibit a 100 × lower wear rate compared to porous coatings (ρ = 3.04–3.55 g/cm3). The tribological performance of high density pure MoS2 coatings is shown to surpass that of established composite coatings, achieving a wear rate 2 × (k = 5.74 × 10–8 mm3/Nm) lower than composite MoS2/Sb2O3/Au in inert environments.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103
JournalTribology Letters
Volume70
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022
Externally publishedYes

Funding

G.L.D. would like to acknowledge the assistance and contributions of the students and staff of the Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory at the University of Akron. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2027029, 1826251, and NSF GRFP No. 1842163. TEM work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1644779 and the State of Florida. G.L.D. was supported by funding from the Center for Surface Engineering and Lubrication Research. F.W.D. was supported by the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a Department of Energy office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. This work was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Sandia National Laboratories, a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. This paper describes objective technical results and analysis. Any subjective views or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

Keywords

  • Density
  • Hardness
  • MoS
  • Nanoindentation
  • RBS
  • TEM
  • XRD

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