Comparison of the tribological properties of an ion sulfurized coating and a plasma sprayed FeS coating

The microstructures and tribological behaviors of ferrous sulfide solid lubrication coatings prepared by low temperature ion sulfuration and plasma sprayed techniques were investigated against the 52 100 steel balls. The friction and wear tests were performed with different parameters of the time and velocity under oil lubrication. The results demonstrated the influence of the coating microstructures on the frictional and wear behaviors. The friction-reduction and were-resistance of ion sulfurized coating were better than that of plasma sprayed FeS coating, however, the anti-scuffing behavior of the latter coating was better than that of the former. The difference of the tribological properties of two coatings can be attributed to their different forming mechanisms and microstructures. SEM equipped with EDX and XRD were employed to analyze the morphologies and phase structures. The scratching apparatus was utilized to measure the bonding strength between coatings and substrate.