A sliding surface, which is formed using metal (SUJ2, palladium etc.) or oxide ceramics (ZrO.sub.2), is made to slide, at a Hertzian contact stress of 1.0 GPa or more in an atmospheric environment containing a hydrogen gas including a minute amount of an alcohol and water, against a slid surface including a PLC film which is a coating formed by an ionization deposition method while applying a low bias voltage. Consequently, it is possible to form, on the sliding surface, a low-friction coating that stably exhibits a significantly low friction coefficient of 10.sup.−4 order (less than 0.001).

The invention provides a fullerene compound; a lubricant that is for a magnetic recording medium and that contains the fullerene compound; and a magnetic recording medium. The fullerene compound is an ionic liquid that is represented by general formula (1) and is formed from a Bronsted acid (H.sub.n1X) and a Bronsted base ([R.sub.2R.sub.3)N—].sub.m1—R.sub.1); wherein one of the Brønsted acid and the Broønsted base contains a group having a fullerene; and the other contains a perfluoroalkyl chain. ##STR00001##

Provided are a coating film, a manufacturing method for the same, and a PVD device that not only sufficiently improve the balance of low-friction properties and wear resistance, but also improve chipping resistance and peeling resistance. This film is coated on a substrate surface, wherein the coating film has a hard carbon that presents relatively black and white when observed in a cross-sectional bright-field TEM image, a mesh-shaped hard carbon layer is formed using a PVD method, said layer having white-colored hard carbon in a mesh shape extending in the thickness direction and black-colored hard carbon dispersed into the cavities in the mesh, and the ID/IG ratio is 1-6 when the mesh-shaped hard carbon layer is measured using Raman spectroscopy, said ratio being the ratio of the Raman spectrum D band peak area intensity and G band peak area intensity.

A solid lubricant bar comprising hydrogenated castor oil or wax, expandable flake graphite, and copper. ATH, MDH, and zinc borate can also be added to the formulation to enhance fire retardancy and suppression.

Some variations provide a low-adhesion coating comprising a continuous matrix containing a first component, a plurality of inclusions containing a second component, and a solid-state lubricant distributed within the coating, wherein one of the first component or the second component is a low-surface-energy polymer, and the other of the first component or the second component is a hygroscopic material. The solid-state lubricant may be selected from graphite, graphene, molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide, hexagonal boron nitride, or poly(tetrafluoroethylene) or other fluoropolymers. The solid-state lubricant particles may be coated with a metal selected from cadmium, lead, tin, zinc, copper, nickel, or alloys containing one or more of these metals. The solid-state lubricant is typically characterized by an average particle size from about 0.1 μm to about 500 μm. The solid-state lubricant is preferably distributed throughout the coating.

In relation to the NAO friction material free of copper component, this invention is to provide the friction material that prevents the occurrence of metal catch while securing sufficient wear resistance. In the friction material manufactured by forming the NAO friction material composition which is free of copper component, the above-described friction material composition does not contain metal simple substance or alloy and contains, as the lubricant, metal sulfide having 600 centigrade or higher decomposition temperature to be decomposed into metal and sulfur, 2.0-5.0 weight % of graphite and a zirconium silicate as an abrasive material. Here, the metal sulfide is not a molybdenum disulfide or a tungsten disulfide. Especially, the content of the metal sulfide is preferably 0.5-2.0 weight % relative to the total amount of the friction material composition.

A strain wave gearing has contact parts which are the portions to be lubricated other than the teeth of an externally toothed gear and an internally toothed gear, the contact parts being respectively lubricated with an inorganic lubricating powder having a lamellar crystal structure. The lubricating powder, during the operation of the strain wave gearing, is crushed between the contact surfaces of each of the contact parts to move and adhere to the contact surfaces, thereby forming thin surface films thereon. Additionally, the powder is thinly spread by pressure and reduced into finer particles to change into a shape which facilitates intrusion into the space between the contact surfaces. By both the fine particles having changed in shape and the surface films, the lubrication of the contact parts is maintained. Neither the fine particles nor the surface films are viscous.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a two-dimensional hybrid composite that is capable of solving the problems with the two-dimensional plate type materials, that is, step difference, defects, stretching, etc., that occur as the second-dimensional plate type materials overlap with one another. The present invention provides a method for preparing a two-dimensional hybrid composite that includes: (a) preparing a first plate type material in the solid or liquid state; (b) mixing a second plate type material with the first plate type material, the second plate type material being thinner and more flexible than the first plate type material; (c) mixing a solid or liquid binder with the first and second plate type materials to make the first and second plate type materials partly contact with or apart from each other; and (d) solidifying a composite formed by the steps (a), (b) and (c).

Provided are a sliding member for sealing and a seal device that exhibit good sealing performance even when used in an environment where silicon oxide is likely to be deposited.

A sliding member for sealing includes a sintered body consisting of 1.0 to 12.5 wt % of cerium oxide, a combination of 20 to 50 wt % of graphite and graphitizable carbon, and a remainder of non-graphitizable carbon. The sliding member for sealing is used as, for example, a rotary seal ring or a stationary seal ring.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to large scale synthesis of thinned graphite and in particular, few layers of graphene sheets and graphene-graphite composites. In some embodiments, a method for producing thinned crystalline graphite from precursor crystalline graphite using wet ball milling processes is disclosed herein. The method includes transferring crystalline graphite into a ball milling vessel that includes a grinding media. A first and a second solvent are transferred into the ball milling vessel and the ball milling vessel is rotated to cause the shearing of layers of the crystalline graphite to produce thinned crystalline graphite.