SOLID STATE HIGH TEMPERATURE LUBRICANT BY CVD

NEW DESIGNS AND INNOVATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE OPERATING EFFICIENCIES OF SPACECRAFT, AIRCRAFT, AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS ARE REQUIRING GREATER OPERATING TEMPERATURES. EXTREME DEMANDS ARE THUS BEING PLACED ON ALL INVOLVED MATERIALS, AMONG WHICH ARE THE LUBRICANTS, AND IN MANY CASESREQUIREMENTS SURPASS THE CAPABILITIES OF PRESENTLY AVAILABLEMATERIALS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE PROPOSED OPERATING TEMPERATURE FOR CERAMIC ENGINES IS IN THE REALM OF 500 DEGREES CENTIGRADE. THIS TEMPERATURE PRECLUDES THE USE OF LIQUID LUBRICANTS, DICTATING INSTEAD THE USE OF DRY FILM LUBRICANTS. HOWEVER, MOLYBDENUM DISULFIDE (MOS2), ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN DRY FILM LUBRICANTS, HAS A MAXIMUM SUSTAINED OPERATING LIMIT OF ABOUT 350 DEGREES CENTIGRADE; ABOVE THIS TEMPERATURE, THE MATERIAL DECOMPOSES. IN THIS PHASE I PROGRAM, ULTRAMET PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A HARDENED MOLYBDENUM BASE WHICH WILL SERVE AS BOTH THE BEARING SURFACE AND THE LUBRICANT FILM SOURCE AND SURFACE. THE PROPOSED LUBRICANT IS MOLYBDENUM TRIOXIDE (MO03), AND THE LUBRICATING FILM WILL BE GENERATED IN SITU. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THIS DRY FILM LUBRICANT SYSTEM WILL OPERATE EFFECTIVELY TO AT LEAST 650 DEGREES CENTIGRADE. THE HARDENED MOLYBDENUM SURFACE WILL BE DEVELOPED BY APPLYING THE WELL-KNOWN TECHNIQUE OF CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD) AND THE KNOWN CHEMISTRY OF A SIMILAR SYSTEM TO THE MOLYBDENUM FAMILY OF COMPOUNDS.