Nitrogen alloyed MoSe▫$_2$▫ coatings : role of optimized morphology, structure and mechanical properties on diverse environment sliding performance

Yaqub, Talha Bin (author), Nadeem, Irfan (author), Fernandes, Filipe Daniel (author), Yaqoob, Khurram (author), Kalin, Mitjan (author), Cavaleiro, Albano (author)

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) coatings are gaining increasing interest among the scientific community as eco-friendly solutions for reducing friction, improving energy conservation, and lowering carbon footprints. N-alloyed MoSe▫$_2$▫ coatings (MoSeN), a subset of TMDs, remain largely underexplored, with no research on their frictional performance across various sliding environments. Herein, an in-depth analysis of DC-magnetron sputtered MoSeN coatings is presented, with N content varying from 0 to 42 at%. Investigation of composition, morphological features, crystal structure, mechanical strength and sliding performance are accessed. Our findings revealed that N additions resulted in increased compactness, amorphous structure and hardness of ∼4.6 GPa, and these improvements remained consistent despite compositional variations. The sliding competency was evaluated under six different conditions, revealing promising results in ambient-air and dry-N▫$_2$▫ atmospheres at room conditions and 100 °C. At 200 °C, the sliding performance in ambient-air was better than dry-N2. Friction coefficient for N-alloyed coatings was relatively close, ranging between 0.03 and 0.06, except for a dry-N▫$_2$▫ environment at 200 °C. Nevertheless, wear rate showed slight variations, with higher values observed in dry-N2 at 100 °C and 200 °C but remained within a specific range of 1–7 × 10▫$^{-7}$▫ mm▫$^3$▫/Nm for all other conditions. This study highlights the potential of MoSeN coatings to be scaled for industrial applications, offering a roadmap for reducing the inherent limitations of PVD sputtering.

• Language: English
• Keywords: friction and wear MoSeN coatings, TMDs, PVD sputtering, diverse environment sliding
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 209, art. 110716
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-168775
• UDC: 539.92:620.3
• ISSN on article: 1879-2464
• DOI: 10.1016/j.triboint.2025.110716
• COBISS.SI-ID: 234052867
• Publication date in RUL: 24.04.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Tribology international
• Shortened title: Tribol. int.
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1879-2464
• COBISS.SI-ID: 62108419

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: MoSeN premazi zaradi trenja in obrabe, TMD, PVD naprševanje, drsenje v različnih okoljih