Modelling and Experimentation of Solid Lubrification with Powder MoS<sub>2</sub> through Self-Repairing and Self-Replenishing

Abstract

Molybdenum disulphides (MoS2), which belong to the family of transition metal dichalcogenides, are well known for their solid lubricating behaviour. Thin films of MoS2 exhibit extremely low coefficient of friction in dry environments, and are typically applied by mixed in oil, grease or impregnated into porous matrix of powdered materials, sputter deposition, pulsed laser ablation, evaporation or chemical vapour deposition and, which are essentially either line-of-sight or high temperature processes. Solid lubricant coatings are attractive because they can reduce friction-generated heat. MoS2 is a common solid lubricant. However, the use of MoS2 can limited by excessive wear, as well as a friction coefficient. Several studies on solid lubricant coatings demonstrated success in lubricating dry sliding contacts over very long periods in tribometer tests or reciprocating sliding experiments.Several pellet-on-disk and pad-on-disk tribometer tests were conducted to study the lubrication characteristics of third-body particles of MoS2 powder. The tests consisted of simultaneous pellet-on-disk and pad-on-disk sliding contacts. Results from the tests show the self-repairing, self-replenishing, oil-free lubrication mechanism of MoS2. A theoretical control volume fractional coverage (CVFC) model was developed to predict: - (1) the friction coefficient at the pad-on-disk interface and - (2) the wear coefficient for the lubricated pellet-on-disk sliding contact. The fractional coverage varies with time and quantifies the amount of third-body film covering the disk asperities. Results from the model capture the tribological behaviour of the experimental sliding contacts reasonably well. The aim of this paper is modeling and experimentation of solid lubrification with MoS2 particles through self-repairing and self-replenishing and through the comparision between theoretical and experimental results obtained in the process of friction and wear by tribological tests.