Abstract: The fretting wear behavior of molybdenum disulfide bonded solid lubricating coating under radial and tangential fretting conditions were investigated by sliding against AISI-1045 steel counterpart. The fretted surfaces of the coating were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the coating had better wear resistance under radial fretting. No mixed fretting regime existed under the condition of tangential fretting, and the fretted damage of the coating was accompanied by the oxidation of MoS 2, which was strongly dependent on the displacement amplitude. Moreover, the coating under radial fretting behaved similarly as in the partial slip regime of tangential fretting.