The oxidation and erosion of atomic oxygen are considered to be the most dangerous environmental factors for materials exposed to the aerospace environment. In order to investigate the effect of atomic oxygen on the lubricating film and improve the tribological properties, MoS₂–WS₂ composite film was prepared by the sputtering technique. The film structure and mechanical behavior were characterized and their vacuum tribological properties were evaluated by a friction tester. The composite film possessed better atomic oxygen (AO) resistance than pure film because of the dense structure. The tribological performance of composite film was different under the conditions after AO-irradiation and sliding and during AO-irradiation. After AO-irradiation, the tribological properties of composite film were similar to those before AO-irradiation. However, high friction noise, wear rate, and reduced wear duration were observed for the composite film under the AO-irradiation/friction process because of the continuous damage of the lubricating film due to the AO-irradiation. The addition of 16 at.% WS₂ to the MoS₂-based film changed the composite film structure and improved the oxidation resistance of the film, making the composite film exhibit better tribological performance than pure MoS₂.

Due to their versatile and unique properties, tantalum-based thin films have been extensively studied. However, tantalum is susceptible to oxidation due to its higher chemical activity, which is crucial regardless of whether oxidations of Ta are beneficial or detrimental. Therefore, the oxidation of Ta during material processing, especially without conscious means, should be taken seriously. In this study, pure Ta films were fabricated by magnetron sputtering under set procedure parameters. The effects of base pressure and substrate temperature on the degree of oxidation of Ta films were investigated. The results revealed that the magnitude of the base pressure directly affects the oxidation state of the as-deposited Ta films. When preferably avoiding the oxidation of sputtered Ta films, the base pressure should be controlled below 4.4 × 10⁻⁴ Pa. The substrate temperature has little effect on the oxidation state of the as-deposited Ta films under a base pressure ranging from about 10⁻² Pa to 10⁻⁴. We hope that this study can provide some references for controlling the oxidation states of Ta involved in relevant film preparation.

Grit blasting is one simple but effective method to modify the morphology of material surface and can improve the tribological performance. In this study, a thick TiN film was prepared by arc ion plating on the steel disk treated with grit blasting, and the rough surface coated solid film was obtained. The tribological properties of solid film against different materials were evaluated under starved lubrication regime. The results showed that the friction coefficients of rough titanium nitride (TiN) films were lower than those of rough steel disks exclude alumina ball under starved lubrication, and the wear rates of TiN film were negligible due to the high hardness of TiN film and small contact area. For four kinds of balls including steel ball, silicon nitride, zirconia, and alumina, the wear scar diameter of steel ball is biggest, and the wear scar diameters of other balls are small. The hardness of steel ball is less than others, which results in the easy abrasion and increases the contact area to reduce the pressure. So the friction coefficient of TiN against steel is low and steady.