Compaction of Hydrophobic Molybdenum Disulfide Coatings for Promoting Tribological Behaviors on Engineering Steel

Ambient environment has a crucial effect on the lubrication performance of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) coatings. In this work, we fabricated porous MoS₂ coatings via a facile optimized aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) method. It is found that the obtained MoS₂ coating demonstrates outstanding antifriction and antiwear lubrication performance with the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate as low as 0.035 and 3.4 × 10^-7 mm³/Nm in lower humidity (15 ± 5)%, respectively, which is comparable to the lubrication ability of pure MoS₂ in vacuum. In addition, the hydrophobic property of porous MoS₂ coatings is suitable for infusing lubrication oil to achieve stable solid-liquid lubrication in higher humidity (85 ± 2)%. The composite lubrication system shows excellent tribological behavior in both dry and wet environments, which will alleviate the sensitivity of the MoS₂ coating to the environment and ensure the service life of the engineering steel in complex industrial backgrounds.