Molybdenum disulfide coating deposited by hybrid treatment and its friction-reduction performance

To obtain the MoS2 film, a hybrid method, ion plating plus low temperature ion sulfuration, is utilized. A layer of metal molybdenum with 2–3 μm thick was first deposited by the multi-arc ion plating, and then the layer of metal molybdenum was treated by the low temperature ion sulfuration to obtain the composite MoS2 film. The friction and wear experiment results showed that the MoS2 film possessed an excellent performance of friction-reduction. SEM equipped with EDAX was adopted to analyze the morphologies and compositions of surface and worn scar of the MoS2 film. XPS was used to detect the valence states of the film surface, and a nano-tester was employed to measure the nano-hardness and nano-modulus of the films.