MoS excels as a lubricating material (see below) due to its layered structure and low coefficient of friction. Interlayer sliding dissipates energy when a shear stress is applied to the material. Extensive work has been performed to characterize the coefficient of friction and shear strength of MoS in various atmospheres. The shear strength of MoS increases as the coefficient of friction increases. This property is called superlubricity. At ambient conditions, the coefficient of friction for MoS was determined to be 0.150, with a corresponding estimated shear strength of 56.0 MPa (megapascals). Direct methods of measuring the shear strength indicate that the value is closer to 25.3 MPa.
The wear resistance of MoS in lubricating applications can be increased by doping MoS with Cr. Microindentation experiments on nanopillars of Cr-doped MoS found that the yield strength increased from an average of 821 MPa for pure MoS (at 0% Cr) to 1017 MPa  at 50% Cr. The increase in yield strength is accompanied by a change in the failure mode of the material. While the pure MoS nanopillar fails through a plastic bending mechanism, brittle fracture modes become apparent as the material is loaded with increasing amounts of dopant.
The widely used method of micromechanical exfoliation has been carefully studied in MoS to understand the mechanism of delamination in few-layer to multi-layer flakes. The exact mechanism of cleavage was found to be layer dependent. Flakes thinner than 5 layers undergo homogenous bending and rippling, while flakes around 10 layers thick delaminated through interlayer sliding. Flakes with more than 20 layers exhibited a kinking mechanism during micromechanical cleavage. The cleavage of these flakes was also determined to be reversible due to the nature of van der Waals bonding.
In recent years, MoS has been utilized in flexible electronic applications, promoting more investigation into the elastic properties of this material. Nanoscopic bending tests using AFM cantilever tips were performed on micromechanically exfoliated MoS flakes that were deposited on a holey substrate. The yield strength of monolayer flakes was 270 GPa, while the thicker flakes were also stiffer, with a yield strength of 330 GPa. Molecular dynamic simulations found the in-plane yield strength of MoS to be 229 GPa, which matches the experimental results within error.
Bertolazzi and coworkers also characterized the failure modes of the suspended monolayer flakes. The strain at failure ranges from 6 to 11%. The average yield strength of monolayer MoS is 23 GPa, which is close to the theoretical fracture strength for defect-free MoS.
The band structure of MoS is sensitive to strain.