Laboratoire Suisse De Recherches Horlogeres

Michel Maillat

Hans E Hintermann

Paul Niederhaeuser

A product and method of suspending a substantially non-dissolved liquid lubricant or mixture of liquid lubricants within a non-metallic binder, which after application upon a desired surface and subsequent curing, provides a lubricating paint, which maintains the lubricant in a suspended state until the binder matrix is worn down by frictional contact with another surface, whereby the reached suspended lubricant inclusions are ruptured and spread over the surface of the binder matrix and providing lubrication between two parts in frictional contact with each other.

Paint with suspended oil inclusions; preparation and applications

A corrosion-resistant surface formed of a sulfide-forming metal, in particular nickel, is first subjected to an electric plasma in an atmosphere containing hydrogen sulfide to form an adherent sulfide on said surface. The sulfided surface is then exposed to simultaneous cathodic sputtering of at least one solid lubricant which is a chalcogen compound of layer structure, in particular MoS.sub.2, and at least one hydrophobic solid polymer, in particular PTFE. The coating thus formed is a composite coating in which the particles of the chalcogen compound are coated by the polymer. When the surface of the part to be coated does not consist of a corrosion-resistant sulfide-forming metal, a layer of such a metal is first deposited by cathodic sputtering. The composite coating withstands a wet oxidizing atmosphere, contrary to a coating of MoS.sub.2 alone, and the method is applicable to any mechanical part intended to rub on other surfaces, such as a watch balance wheel staff and ball or roller bearings.

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Neuchatel, Switzerland

Michel Maillat