Self-solid lubricant Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) coatings have rapidly gained popularity in vacuum environments. The pure MoS2 coatings lose their lubricating properties under humid conditions. The properties of MoS2-coated film can be enhanced by incorporating a small amount of metals. In this paper, we have deposited the films of MoS2_Al_Ti composition (90% MoS2, 5% Al, 5% Ti) with the variation of different RF power through a magnetron sputtering system and investigated the tribological and mechanical performance of metal-doped MoS2 films on stainless steel (SS) 321 substrates. The elemental composition, surface microstructure, film thickness, tribological and mechanical behavior of as-deposited films were analysed by EDS, FESEM, multi-tribometer, and micro-indentation, respectively. The results showed that we got an optimized composite film of MoS2_Al_Ti, which has a 0.01 friction coefficient for better lubrication performance, relatively less wear rate (9.0 × 10−5 mm3/N-m), and prevents oxide layer formation.
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