Design of solid-liquid composite lubrication coatings based on thermal sprayed ceramic templet

A solid-liquid composite lubrication coating capable of controlling friction and wear has received widespread attention among researchers. Here, a novel self-lubricating ceramic coating was created through a combination of thermal spraying, hydrothermal reactions, and vacuum impregnation. Its mechanical properties, tribological performance, and self-lubrication mechanism were thoroughly analyzed. The results indicate that the thermally sprayed ceramic coating contained carbon spheres and perfluoropolyether. As a result of the in-situ synthesis of carbon spheres, the coating exhibited enhanced mechanical properties. Compared to the single solid lubricant coating, the solid-liquid composite coating decreased the coefficient of friction by 46.7% to 0.112 and decreased the wear rate from 1.25 × 10−6 mm3/m N to 3.70 × 10−7 mm3/m N. It is proposed in this work that solid-liquid composite coatings can be prepared by utilizing the defects such as pores and microcracks inherent in thermal spray coatings for introducing solid lubricating phases and liquid lubricating phases. This strategy addresses the issue of degradation of the mechanical properties of conventional ceramic-based self-lubricating coatings due to their tribological design.