An investigation on fretting wear life of bonded MoS2 solid lubricant coatings in complex conditions

Compared to MoS2 coatings obtained by magnetron sputtering or ion beam assisted deposition, the MoS2 bonded solid lubricant coatings has been widely applied in sliding wear due to a cheap technical process and good thickness. However, such coatings technology has been rarely investigated in complex fretting condition. In this work, fretting wear tests of the six novolac epoxy resin bonded molybdenum disulfide solid lubricant coatings have been carried out in various normal loads and amplitudes. The effects of various process preparations, substrate materials, and environmental conditions on the fretting wear life were investigated. Main results show that enhancing substrate hardness, increasing coating thickness, sandblasting substrate surface, and heat curing coating will improve fretting wear life to some extent while it decreases with increasing relative humidity. Oxidation effect is one of the important factors for coating degradation at high temperature.