Characterization and tribological properties of plasma sprayed FeS solid lubrication coatings

Plasma sprayed technology has been utilized to prepare solid lubrication FeS coatings with thicknesses of 0.3 mm, 0.8 mm and 1.5 mm. Their tribological properties were comparatively investigated under oil lubrication. An SEM equipped with EDS, and XRD were employed to analyze the surface and worn scar morphologies of the coatings, as well as the surface phase structures. A scratch testing machine was utilized to measure the bond strength between substrate and coating. The results showed that the tribological properties of the sprayed FeS coatings were superior to the original 1045 steel. The 0.8 mm thick coating possessed the best tribological properties. The differences in tribological properties of the three coatings were determined by the differences of their thickness and structure.