Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T22:05:02.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solid Lubricants: Overview and Recent Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Paul Sutor
Get access

Extract

A renaissance in research and development of solid lubricants has taken place during the past 10 years. This renaissance has been driven by the needs of advanced technological applications, for which liquid lubricants alone have become either ineffective or undesirable. Increasing the efficiency of jet and automobile engines, which entails engine operation at significantly higher temperatures, and increasing the longevity of space vehicles have been central technology drivers.

In the past 10 years, many new solid lubricants have been developed to address these needs for higher temperature operation and longer life. Their development, for the most part, has taken advantage of what is known concerning their mechanism of action. Although this mechanistic knowledge is incomplete, particularly at high temperatures, significant advances in material performance have been made. In addition, new methods of applying solid lubricant coatings, namely plasma and ion-beam-assisted vacuum deposition methods, have recently come into their own and produced improved materials.

This article will highlight developments in the 1980s which produced new solid lubricants and the advanced technologies which these materials will enable.

Several reviews of solid lubricants survey the area in more detail than is possible here. For overview purposes, this article will briefly describe the classes of materials used as solid lubricants, their mechanism of action, and areas of application.

Type
Technical Features
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 16 , Issue 5 , May 1991 , pp. 24 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Lancaster, J.K., “Solid Lubricants,” in CRC Handbook of Lubrication (Theory and Practice of Tribology), Vol. II: Theory and Design, edited by Booser, E.R. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL) p. 269–290 (1984).Google Scholar
2.Sliney, H.E., “Solid Lubricant Materials for High Temperatures - A Review,” Tribal. Int. 15 (5), (1982) p. 293–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Singer, I.L., “Solid Lubricating Films for Extreme Environments,” in New Materials Approaches to Tribology, edited by Pope, L.E., Fehrenbacher, L., and Winer, W.O. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 140, Pittsburgh, PA, 1989) p. 215–226.Google Scholar
4.Fusaro, R.L., “Comparison of the Tribological Properties of Fluorinated Cokes and Graphites,” Tribol. Trans. 32 (2) (1989) p. 121–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Conte, A.A., “Graphite Intercalation Compounds as Solid Lubricants,” ASLE Trans. 26 (2) (1983) p. 200–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Jamison, W., “Intercalated Dichalcogenide Solid Lubricants,” Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Solid Lubricants, ASLE SP-14 (1984) p. 73–87.Google Scholar
7.Erdemir, A., “Tribological Properties of Boric Arid and Boric Arid-Forming Surfaces. Part I: Crystal Chemistry and Mechanism of Self-Lubrication of Boric Acid,” Lubr. Eng. 47 (3) (1991) p. 168–173Google Scholar
8.Erdemir, A., Fenske, G.R., Erck, R.A., Nichols, F.A., and Busch, D.E., “Tribological Properties of Boric Acid and Boric Acid-Forming Surfaces. Part II: Mechanisms of Formation and Self-Lubrication of Boric Acid Films on Boron- and Boric-Oxide-Containing Surfaces,” Lubr. Eng. 47 (3) (1991) p. 179–184.Google Scholar
9.Fusaro, R. L., “Effect of Load, Area of Contact and Contact Stress on the Wear Mechanisms of a Bonded Solid Lubricant Film,” Wear 75 (1982) p. 403–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Wagner, R.C. and Sliney, H.E., “Durable Solid Lubricant Coatings for Foil Gas Bearings to 315°C,” ASLE SP-14 (1984) p. 105–113.Google Scholar
11.Sutor, P., “Tribology of Fiber-Reinforced Polyimides Sliding Against Steel and Silicon Nitride,” Chapter 18 in Polymer Wear and Its Control, edited by Lee, L.-H., (ACS Symposium Series, 287, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1985) p. 269–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Gardos, M.N., “An Analysis of the Ga/In/WSe2 Lubricant Compact,” ASLE Trans. 28 (1985) p. 231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Fusaro, R.L., “Evaluation of Several Polymer Materials for Use as Solid Lubricants in Space,” Tribal. Trans. 31 (2) (1988) p. 174–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Cusano, C. and Sliney, H.E., “Dynamics of Solid Dispersions in Oil During the Lubrication of Point Contacts, Part I-Graphite,” ASLE Trans. 25 (2) (1982) p. 183–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Rolek, R.J., Cusano, C., and Sliney, H.E., “The Influence of Temperature on the Lubricating Effectiveness of MoS2 Dispersed in Mineral Oils,” ASLE Trans. 28 (4) (1985) p. 493–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Sutor, P. and Bryzik, W., “Laboratory Development and Engine Performance of New High-Temperature Diesel Engine Lubricants,” SAE Paper No. 890145 in SP-785, Worldwide Progress on Adiabatic Engines (1989) p. 41–53.Google Scholar
17.Stupp, B.C., “Performance of Conventionally Sputtered MoS2 Versus Co-Sputtered MoS2 and Nickel,” ASLE SP-14, (1984) p. 217–222.Google Scholar
18.Spalvins, T., Thin Solid Films 118 (1984) p. 375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Fleischauer, P.D. and Bauer, R., “Chemical and Structural Effects on the Lubrication Properties of Sputtered MoS2 Films,” Tribol. Trans. 31 (1988) p. 239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Hilton, M.R. and Fleischauer, P.D., “Structural Studies of Sputter-Deposited MoS2 Solid Lubricant Films,” in New Materials Approaches to Tribology, edited by Pope, L.E., Fehrenbacher, L., and Winter, W.O. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 140, Pittsburgh, PA, 1989) p. 227–238.Google Scholar
21.Enke, K., Dimigen, H., and Hubsch, H., “Frictional Properties of Diamondlike Carbon Layers,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 36 (4) (1980) p. 291–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Miyake, S., Takahashi, S., Watanabe, I., and Yoshihara, H., “Friction and Wear Behavior of Hard Carbon Films,” ASLE Trans. 30 (1) (1987) p. 121–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Dimigen, H., Hubsch, H., and Memming, R., “Tribological and Electrical Properties of Metal-Containing Hydrogenated Carbon Films,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 50 (16) (1987) p. 1056–1058.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.deGouvea Pinto, N., Duda, J.L., Graham, E.E., and Klaus, E.E., “In Situ Formation of Solid Lubricating Films From Conventional Mineral Oil and Ester Base Lubricants,” ASLE SP-14 (1984) p. 98–104.Google Scholar
25.Lauer, J.L. and Bunting, B.G., “High Temperature Solid Lubrication by Catalytically Generated Carbon,” Tribol. Trans. 31 (3) (1988) p. 338–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Sliney, H.E., “The Use of Silver in Self-Lubricating Coatings for Extreme Temperatures,” ASLE Trans. 29 (3) (1986) p. 370–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Sliney, H.E., Jacobsen, T.P., Deadmore, D., and Miyoshi, K., “Tribology of Selected Ceramics at Temperatures to 900°C,” Ceram. Eng. Sci. Proc. 7 (7-8) (1986) p. 1039–1051.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Wagner, R.C. and Sliney, H.E., “Effects of Silver and Group II Fluoride Solid Lubricant Additions to Plasma-Sprayed Chromium Carbide Coatings for Foil Gas Bearings to 650°C,” Lubr. Eng. 42 (10) (1986) p. 594–600.Google Scholar
29.King, J. and Forster, N., “Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel High Temperature Solid Lubricants,” AIAA Paper 90-2044 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Sutor, P., “High-Temperature Lubricant Characterization,” AIAA Paper 90-2043 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar