LAUSR

Abstract In this article, Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) method has been used for depositing Si/MoS2 coating on Al alloy substrate. The Surface morphology of coating materials has been analysed by Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Scratch with ramp loading has been conducted and analysed into three regimes to understand the behaviour of coating during the scratch. Scratch results showed that peeling of the coating occurs at critical load 2385 μN and lateral load 239 μN. Wear experiments with 4–10 cycles have been conducted at a low load of 100 μN. The results revealed that the wear rate reduces with an increased number of cycles, which means Si/MoS2 coating possesses the self-lubricating property. It was also observed that ductile and abrasive wear is the main mode of wear mechanism in Si/MoS2 deposited coating.