Friction and wear of solid lubricant films deposited by different types of burnishing

Solid lubricant films based on MoS2 and WS2 are widely used for dry air friction and aerospace applications. Different plasma deposition methods are widely used for formation of solid lubricant films on the contact surfaces. One of the simple methods of solid lubricant film deposition is cloth burnishing. The aim of this work is to develop new simple methods for burnishing of steel surfaces providing improved the tribological properties of solid lubricant films. For this cause the solid lubricant particles were burnished by the loading system of balls. MoS2 as well as some binders were used for formation of lubricant layer. In order to improve the consolidation of particles in the layer, external excitation of loading system has been used. The friction coefficient and the longevity of solid lubricant film were assessed using ball-on-flat and pin-on-disk devices. The effect of burnished films on their tribological properties is discussed.