Tribological performance of MoS2 coatings in liquid helium and at high loads

The main part of a narrow support element (NSE) of the W7-X superconducting coil system is an aluminium bronze pad, PVD coated on its spherical surface with MoS₂, which slides against the flat surface of the stainless steel coil housing, coated with MoS₂ spray. The operational requirements of the NSEs are: vacuum of p < 10⁻⁶ mbar, temperature T  4 K, maximum load P 1500 kN, typical displacement ≤5 mm, smooth sliding and no stick-slip events. The paper describes test results obtained with a downscaled NSE at T = 4.2 and 77 K. During the test the NSEs were submerged in liquid helium and nitrogen, respectively. Whereas the LN₂ test ran smoothly for up to 15,000 cycles, the test in LHe showed stick-slip from the very first cycle. The stick-slip disappeared after 50 cycles. Post mortem analysis of the tested parts revealed that in case of LHe the sprayed MoS₂ film was removed during the first 30–100 cycles by blistering and flaking. The reason for the loss of adhesion at LHe temperature is not known, several possible causes are under discussion. Further experiments under vacuum and at T 4 K are being prepared which are expected to help in clarifying the issue.