Low-Temperature Plasma-Chemical Deposition of Nanocomposite Antifriction Molybdenum Disulfide (Filler)–Silicon Oxide (Matrix) Coatings

Abstract

It was demonstrated experimentally that the spatial separation of two processes of chemical vapor deposition, one of which provides synthesis of filler (MoS₂) nanoparticles and the other yields the matrix (SiO₂) of the nanocomposite coating, performed ina common reactor, enables an independent control over two process rates and makes it possible to widely vary the composition of the films deposited in this way. The deposition was performed in a double-zone vertical tubular quartz reactor. Molybdenum disulfide particles were produced by pyrolysis of aerosols of ammonium thiomolybdate solutions in dimethylformamide in the upper zone of the reactor, and the plasma-chemical deposition of a nanocomposite coating occurred in the lower zone into which MoS₂ nanoparticles were transported by the gas flow and tetraethoxysilane was delivered. It was shown that the nanocomposite coatings composed of molybdenum disulfide (filler) and silicon oxide (matrix) possess improve the antifriction properties as compared with the matrix (SiO₂ layers), these properties being determined by the relative amounts of MoS₂ nanoparticles in the layer and by their average size.