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Many failures and anomalies of spacecrafts originated from space environmental factors. Meanwhile, MoS 2 based films have been widely used in space technology as solid lubricants. In this paper, the compact MoS 2 -Sb 2 O 3 composite film was rf-sputtered and exposed in low earth orbit (LEO) environment, which was aboard the exterior of Shenzhou-7 Manned Spaceship (SZMS-7). The results revealed that the space exposure effect on MoS 2 -Sb 2 O 3 composite film mainly exhibited the oxidation at the film surface layer less than 3.5 nm. No severe oxidation and cracking phenomena were observed from the space-exposed MoS 2 -Sb 2 O 3 composite film, which was normal for many space materials. Namely, the MoS 2 -Sb 2 O 3 composite film exhibited a better capability resistant to LEO space environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure and wear resistance of sputtered MoS 2 films can be improved by adding some amount of metals. However, the oxidation-resistance of MoS 2 -metals films would be worried because some metals are sensitive to atomic oxygen (AO). In this paper, the inert Sb 2 O 3 was introduced into the MoS 2 film, and its effect on the structure and anti-oxidation ability of the MoS 2 film was clarified. XRD and SEM results revealed that due to the addition of Sb 2 O 3 , the growth of MoS 2 micro-platelets was almost suppressed, and so the composite film was amorphous and very compact. XPS analysis indicated that for the composite film, the influence by the AO irradiation was restricted into the film surface layer. Namely, the composite film exhibited a better anti-oxidation ability in the AO environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the crystal anisotropy, highly oriented films normally exhibit unique properties and performances. In this paper, Ag films were deposited using arc ion plating (AIP) at different substrate temperatures, substrate bias voltages and Ar pressures, and the relationship between the preferred orientation and deposition parameter of the films was investigated. The results exhibited that the preferred orientation of Ag films was influenced significantly by the deposition parameter due to the competition between the surface- and strain-energy minimization, and so both Ag films that exhibited highly preferred orientations of (1 1 1) and (2 0 0), respectively, were obtained at the optimum conditions. The relatively low friction was observed from the Ag film with highly preferred orientations of (1 1 1) because the (1 1 1) plane was the slip plane of face-centred cubic crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CrN nanocone-array supported WS 2 film was prepared by depositing a nanocone-array CrN interlayer and then a radio frequency sputtered WS 2 layer. The microstructures of the deposited films were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The CrN nanocones array have an average period of about 150 nm, and the height of each nanocone is about 100 nm. The CrN nanocone array textured WS 2 film presented an improved lubricating lifetime due to the regular CrN nanocone arrays acting as a good reservoir of the WS 2 lubricates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]