Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Wear 265 (2008) 546–553 Short communication Tribological behaviour of sintered 316L stainless steel impregnated with MoS 2 plain bearing Surapol Raadnui a,∗ , Sithipong Mahathanabodee a , Ruangdaj Tongsri b a Machinery Health Monitoring & Tribology Laboratory, Department of Production Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB), 1518 Pibulsongkram Road, Bang-Sue, Bangkok 10800, Thailand b Powder Metallurgy Research and Development Unit (PM RDU), National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC), Thailand Science Park, 114 Paholyothin Road, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand Received 16 November 2006; accepted 21 November 2007 Available online 8 January 2008 Abstract The mechanical and tribological properties of sintered 316L stainless steel impregnated with molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) were investigated. Tests were carried out at room temperature for two specific ranges of PV value (1.1 and 1.8 MPa m/s). The results prove that the friction coefficient and the wear are strongly influenced by the addition level of MoS 2 . In this paper, MoS 2 powder was mixed with 316L powder before being processed via compacting and sintering steps. The microstructure, hardness, tensile strength and elongation at breaking point of the sintered specimens were evaluated. The friction and wear properties of the materials were examined by a partial plain bearing wear test rig under dry conditions at room temperature and in air. Although some of mechanical properties of the composite decreased with increasing MoS 2 amount, the MoS 2 was very effective in reducing the friction and wear of the composites. Particularly, the sintered 316L–15% MoS 2 materials at 1.1 PV value showed a reduction of friction coefficient by approximately 20–25% when compared to the sintered 316L specimen without addition of MoS 2 . In addition, wear of specimen with addition of MoS 2 was also reduced to some extent (5–10% weight loss reduction) at this specific PV value. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: 316L stainless steel; Molybdenum disulfide; Plain bearing; Powder metallurgy 1. Introduction Self-lubricating bushing is one of the most attractive applica- tions of porous powder metallurgy (P/M) parts. The most widely used materials for porous self-lubricating bushes are bronze, iron–bronze, iron-based powders and nickel-based alloys [1–5]. P/M stainless steel has the potential to replace iron and ferrous alloys due to its superior corrosion resistance and mechanical properties [6]. The self-lubricating P/M 316L bushes would also exhibit superior properties to those of typical bronze and iron–bronze bushes. It has been known that bearing materials containing a solid lubricant prepared by P/M techniques might be suitable for reducing friction and preventing welding under conditions of metal-to-metal contacts [7–9]. These materials would consist of a relatively hard matrix in which small soft ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 2 5870029; fax: +66 2 5870029. E-mail address: srr@kmitnb.ac.th (S. Raadnui). phase particles are dispersed. Materials such as graphite and MoS 2 might adequately serve as the soft phase. MoS 2 is an effective solid-film lubricant under extreme conditions of slid- ing velocity and surface load [10]. Austenitic stainless steels are used in applications demanding general corrosion resistance at room temperature or moderate operating temperature. However, their use is often limited by the relative softness of these materi- als and their susceptibility to wear and galling [11]. The present investigation deals with the dry sliding tribological behaviour of sintered 316L stainless steel and its composites containing MoS 2 . Unlubricated sliding partial plain bearing wear test rig was carried out with test pieces of this specific composite mate- rials. 2. Experiments Experiments were conducted to determine the action mech- anism and the friction and wear properties in dry sliding of 0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2007.11.014