Abstract
A group of blended and spray dried solid lubricants with the same nominal composition were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). The wear resistance of two coatings formed at room temperature and 350°C was evaluated using a rig test to simulate actual application conditions. The results showed that the blended powder coating showed inferior mechanical and tribological properties due to its non-uniform microstructure, which were induced by the differences in the physical and thermophysical properties of each constituent phase. However, the nanostructured spray-dried feedstock coating showed a better wear resistance due to its lower porosity, higher hardness and higher bond strength. In addition, the friction coefficient decreased with an increase of the Ag fraction and the uniformity of the Ag solid lubricant in the coating.
