Influence of V doping on the microstructure, chemical stability, mechanical and tribological properties of MoS2 coatings
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
ISSN: 0036-8792
Article publication date: 6 December 2023
Issue publication date: 16 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of V doping on the microstructure, chemical stability, mechanical and vacuum tribological behavior of sputtered MoS2 coatings.
Design/methodology/approach
The MoS2-V coatings are fabricated via tuning V target current by magnetron sputtering technique. The structural characteristic and elemental content of the coatings are measured by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer, electron probe X-ray micro-analyzer, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer. The hardness of the deposited coatings are tested by a nanoindentation technique. The vacuum tribological properties of MoS2-V coatings are studied by a ball-on-disc tribometer.
Findings
Introducing V into the MoS2 coatings results in a more compact microstructure. The hardness of the coatings increases with the doping of V. The MoS2-V coating deposited at a current of 0.2 A obtains the lowest friction coefficient (0.043) under vacuum. As the amount of V doping increases, the wear rate of the coating decreases first and then increases, among which the coating deposited at a current of 0.5 A has the lowest wear rate of 2.2 × 10–6 mm3/N·m.
Originality/value
This work elucidates the role of V doping on the lubrication mechanism of MoS2 coatings in a vacuum environment, and the MoS2-V coating is expected to be applied as a solid lubricant in space environment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0470203), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51835012, 51975554), the basic research projects (2020-JCJQ-ZD-155–12) and the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province (21JR7RA081, 21JR7RA090).
Declaration of competing interest.
All the authors declare no competing financial interests for this paper.
Since submision of this article, the following authors have updated their affiliation: Xudong Sui is at the Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Zhen Yan is at the State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Lanzhou, China; and Junying Hao is at the Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and Qingdao Center of Resource Chemistry and New Materials, Qingdao, China.
Citation
Lu, X., Sui, X., Zhang, X., Yan, Z. and Hao, J. (2024), "Influence of V doping on the microstructure, chemical stability, mechanical and tribological properties of MoS2 coatings", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 76 No. 1, pp. 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-09-2023-0306
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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