Performance and tribofilm formation of a low-friction coating incorporating inorganic fullerene like nano-particles

A new tribological coating with potential as a coating for components for low-friction applications is tested and compared to three, state of the art, commercial low-friction PVD coatings. The new coating is an electrodeposited coating composed by a Ni–P matrix incorporating fullerene like nanoparticles of WS2. The performance of the new coating is compared with three reference coatings in a ball-on-disc setup. The tribological tests involved ball bearing steel balls slid on coated discs, under different conditions of humidity and also with or without oil lubrication. Both mating surfaces were closely investigated in a scanning electron microscope and the low-friction tribofilms formed were further analysed. The correlations found between coefficient of friction, surface roughness of the wear scar, tribofilm formation and contact conditions are discussed. The new coating exhibits a very low coefficient of friction at low humidity, a behaviour closely resembling that of the MoS2-based commercial reference, whereas the carbon based PVD coatings tested exhibit the reversed dependence of humidity. The low-friction behaviour of the new coating is correlated to the formation of a WS2 tribofilm with a superficial alignment of the basal planes parallel to the sliding direction. When lubricated with a base oil, the beneficial tribofilm is not formed and the coefficient of friction is much higher. The results show that even though the coating is an electrodeposited coating it can compete with state of the art commercial PVD coatings.