This paper describes an investigation of the static contact between a steel ball and a lead-plated steel flat. Both the normal approach of the surfaces and their area of contact have been measured as functions of normal load and the thickness of the lead film. It is shown that, at high loads where the radius of contact is greater than five times the film thickness, all the coated surfaces behaved elastically, and the elastic properties of the coated surfaces were identical to those of the uncoated steel. At lower loads and high film thicknesses, the films deform plastically. The transition from elastic to plastic deformation occurred when the radius of the contact area was approximately five times the film thickness.Presented as an American Society of Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/ASLE Lubrication Conference in Washington, D. C., October 5–7, 1982