Tailoring the corrosion and tribological performance of Ti-modified MoS2-based films in simulated seawater

Shi, X ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4930-7295, He, P, Sun, S, Chen, J, Beake, BD, Liskiewicz, TW ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0866-814X, Zhang, Xin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7844-593X and Zhou, Z (2022) Tailoring the corrosion and tribological performance of Ti-modified MoS2-based films in simulated seawater. Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 21. pp. 576-589. ISSN 2238-7854

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Abstract

Film protection has become a crucial means to improve the corrosion and wear performance of key components in aggressive environment. In this study, the feasibility of using MoS2-based modified films in artificial seawater (3.5% NaCl solution) was evaluated by co-deposition of Ti to produce Ti-MoS2 composite and Ti/MoS2 multilayer films. The microstructure, wettability, mechanical, tribological and corrosion behavior of the Ti-modified MoS2-based films was contrasted to pure MoS2 film. The results show that the incorporation of Ti not only improves densification, but also promotes a transformation from a columnar to an amorphous film structure, leading to the improvement of mechanical properties of Ti-MoS2 composite film and Ti/MoS2 multilayer film. The friction coefficient curves of all of the three MoS2-based film in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution show stable values during the sliding process. The advantage of the preferential (002) growth orientation, improved mechanical properties and reduced hydrophobicity for both of the Ti-modified MoS2 films caused the decreased friction coefficient and wear rate in NaCl solution. The electrochemical results before and after friction show that the ranking of corrosion resistance is Ti/MoS2 multilayer > Ti-MoS2 composite film > pure MoS2 film, which is attributed to the compact microstructure and the presence of surface passive films.