This paper describes an experimental investigation into the performance and lubrication failure mechanism of precise angular-contact ball bearings treated with MoS2-sputtered film, etc. As an important executive component of various spacecrafts, there are some strict requirements on the lubrication performance of angular-contact ball bearing, but the related experimental data are rare to see in literatures. In this experiment, the lubrication performances of MoS2-sputtered ball bearing pairs were evaluated by using lifetime test as a main method, and the topographies and compositions of working surfaces were investigated through SEM, AES and EDS. The systematical experiment results reveal that the degradation and failure process of solid lubrication for such ball bearing is divided into three stages with different characters. A supposed failure mechanism has been proposed. An improved lubrication treatment based on above mechanism was conducted for the precise ball bearings, and a later test showed that long endurance life with more than 108 revolutions has been reached.

In this paper, the friction and wear behaviors of filled PTFE/steel couples are studied. The stationary specimen was made of filled PTFE. The rotating specimen, made of steels, underwent various treatments. The experimental results showed that the frictional coefficient and wear rate were low when the surface of the steel specimen contained nitrogen. The structure of the transfer film was examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The transfer film containing nitrogen on the steel surface was thick. The authors consider that the hypothesis of the adhesion of the n-p-n structure may explain the characteristics of the different sliding couples in this paper and might be an important way to improve the friction and wear properties of the filled PTFE/metal sliding couples.

In this study, a series of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films (ta-C) were deposited on silicon, W18Cr4V high-speed and Cr18Ni9 stainless steel substrates respectively by using pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc system with a MEVVA source, and ta-C film's tribological properties, including teh structure, mechanical performance, adhesion, friction and wear character, were investigated. The results show: the hardness and elastic modulus of ta-C film on a high-speed substrate were reached to 76 and 453 Gpa, respectively; and the effects of substrate and film thickness on ta-C film's friction coeffficients have been studied as well; moreover, the corresponding adhesion damage mechanism and wear damage mechanism have been investigated, respectively.

In this paper, the comparative tribological property of 9Cr18 friction pair used for aerospace components was investigated using a ball-on-disc tester in four different service conditions: in air, in vacuum, and with or without MoS2-based film. The results indicate that the friction coefficients of the 9Cr18 couplings with MoS2 solid lubrication or in vacuum are much lower than those in the conditions of dry friction or atmosphere, with relatively flat ground trace surfaces. While the friction coefficients of usual materials of friction pairs in vacuum are higher than those in atmosphere, it is shown in our study that the abnormal performance may be induced by the surface hardenability of dry friction transition and the lubrication effect of the MoS2-based film. At the same time, the tribological mechanism of the pair is considered as well.

Under action of different dc negative-bias voltages on samples incorporating with silicon, a series of Si-B-N composite films were synthesized on steel 1045 using RF-PECVD technique (radio-frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition), and the surface analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and etc. were followed. The experimental results showed: Si-B-N composite films had an obvious mixture phase of c-BN and h-BN crystal at a certain dc negative bias, and the film's mechanical performances including micro-hardness and adhesion were improved. Moreover, bias effect on deposition performance of Si-B-N composite film has been systematically investigated, and silicon introduction was found to be necessary for the growth of Si-B-N film and the improvement of adhesion.

In this study, a new kind of Si-B-N composite film was deposited on 1045 steel with good adhesion by radio frequency-direct current-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and then was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The results indicate that through the appropriate control of process parameters, especially applying a DC negative bias voltage to the substrate, the Si-B-N composite film with a mixed phase of h-BN and c-BN crystal is obtained. The film was produced by duplex treatment, and its performance was then evaluated. The effects of the applied negative bias on the BN content, adhesion strength, microhardness, and friction coefficient were also investigated.

In this paper, an unique environmentally friendly electroplating process of hardfacing nanostructured WC/CoNi or WC/CoNiP coatings was developed. In the coatings, the nanophase WC particles are uniformly dispersed in a cobalt–nickel or a cobalt-nickel-phosphorus matrix, resulting in a "near net coating" with high hardness (650–850 VHN), low coefficient of friction (0.1-0.31), low wear rate (0.41×10−5 mm3/N m), and smooth as-coated surface (0.7m). This new coating technology is anticipated to emerge as a next generation high performance coating replacing electroplated hard chromium and thermal sprayed WC/Co for specific applications.