A friction and wear life study was conducted on the use of a polyimide (PI) varnish as a binder for the solid lubricant, graphite fluoride (CF1.1)n. Also studied were the lubricating properties of PI thin films with no solid lubricant additives. For comparison, similar experiments on PI-bonded MoS2and burnished films of MoS2or (CF1.1)nwere conducted. The best results were obtained with the PI-bonded (CF1.1)nfilms. The polyimide thin films (with no solid lubricant additives) did not lubricate well at 25 C; however, when heated to 100 C, low friction and long wear lives were obtained.Presented as an American Society of Lubrication Engineers paper ot the ASME/ASLE International Lubrication Conference held in New York City, October 9–12, 1972