A comparative study of the tribological behaviour of PVD coatings on the Ti-6Al-4V alloy

This work focuses on the tribological behaviour of PVD coated Ti-6Al-4V. Commercially available single layer CrN, CrN/NbN superlattice and multilayer WC/C coatings were taken into consideration. The dry sliding behaviour of the coated systems was studied by a flat-on-cylinder tribometer (load range 30–60 N). A critical load, corresponding to the end of coating life, was identified for each coated system. The highest critical loads were observed for CrN- and WC/C-coated Ti-6Al-4V. However, only WC/C also led to a significant decrease of the coefficient of friction. The good performance of WC/C-coated Ti-6Al-4V was ascribed to both the high H/E ratio of the coating and to the best match of elastic modulus with the substrate.     

Load‐carrying capacity of WC/C‐coated gears lubricated with a low‐viscosity oil

The application of low‐friction coatings on the surfaces of gear teeth is primarily motivated by the increasing demands for load‐carrying capacity or the rolling‐contact fatigue life. Despite the costs of manufacturing being higher, better performance is an important consideration for many demanding applications. In the present study, we have investigated the load‐carrying capacity of WC/C‐coated gears that were lubricated with an oil blend that was formulated in‐house. A significantly higher load‐carrying capacity was found for the WC/C‐coated gears lubricated with a tailored, low‐viscosity oil in comparison with the case‐carburised gears lubricated with a conventional gear oil of a similar viscosity. The carburised gears failed due to scuffing on the pinion tip, while coating thinning on the pinion face and coating fracture in the wheel‐root area are the dominant failure mechanisms for WC/C‐coated gears. An approximately 40% lower roughness was found on the coated gear flanks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of antiwear coatings deposited by the pvd process

The tribological properties of various PVD‐deposited coatings (vacuum arc method) have been tested, both single‐layer coatings (TiN, CrN, Ti(C,N), and Cr(C,N)) and multilayer coatings (Cr(C,N)/CrN/Cr and CR(C,N)/(CrN+Cr₂N)/CrN/Cr). An unlubricated ball‐on‐disc tribosystem was used in which an Al₂O₃ ball is pressed against a coated steel disc rotating in the horizontal plane. A novelty of the method is the removal of wear debris from the contact zone using a draught of dry argon. This improves the repeatability of the test results and the stability of the tribological characteristics. It is shown that CrN coatings exhibit the best antiwear properties and Ti(C,N) the worst. Multilayer coatings have better antiwear properties than single‐layer ones. The friction coefficients for CrN and Cr(C,N) coatings are much smaller than for the commonly used TiN. A correlation has also been found between the physical properties of the coatings tested (adhesion of the coating to the substrate assessed in scratch tests, and coating hardness) and their antiwear properties. An improvement in coating‐substrate adhesion results in wear reduction, while greater hardness (causing a coating embrittlement increase and a change in the wear mechanism) brings about greater wear. There is no correlation between the physical properties and the friction coefficients of the coatings tested.     

Tribological Dependence of the High-Performance Ferrous-Based Coating on Different Coating Counterparts in Engine Oil

A ferrous-based coating with significant chromium was fabricated on aluminum alloy substrate using a plasma spray technique. The tribological performance of the as-fabricated ferrous-based coating sliding against different coatings including Cr, CrN, TiN, and diamond-like carbon (DLC) in an engine oil environment were comparatively studied. Results showed that the high hardness of the sprayed ferrous-based coating was achieved due to the dispersion strengthening effect of Cr₇C₃ phase embedded in the austenite matrix. The ferrous-based coating exhibited low friction coefficients when coupled with these four coating counterparts, which could be attributed to the boundary lubricating effect of engine oil. However, both friction and wear of the ferrous-based coating were different when sliding against these different coating counterparts, which might be closely related to the surface roughness, self-lubricating effect, and mechanical properties of the coupled coatings. Ferrous-based coating sliding against CrN and DLC coatings exhibited good tribological performance in engine oil. The best coating counterpart for the ferrous-based coating in an engine was DLC coating.     

A method for the tribological testing of thin,hard coatings

A new method has been developed for tribological testing of thin, hard antiwear coatings, using a ball‐on‐disc tribosystem, under conditions of dry sliding. In this, an Al₂O₃ ball is pressed against a coated steel disc. Wear debris is removed from the contact zone by a stream of dry argon in this novel method. This improves the stability of the tribological properties and the repeatability of the test results. All test conditions are precisely defined, in particular: the type of motion, air relative humidity, ambient temperature, sliding speed, load, tribosystem spatial configuration, substrate material, substrate hardness and roughness, and coating thickness. The method developed has been used to test various physical vapour deposition coatings (deposited by the vacuum arc method), i. e., single‐layer TiN, Ti(C,N), CrN, and Cr(C,N), and multilayer Cr(C,N)/CrN/Cr and Cr(C,N)/(CrN+Cr₂N)/CrN/Cr. It is shown that CrN coatings exhibit the best antiwear properties, and Ti(C,N) the worst. Friction coefficients for CrN and Cr(C,N) coatings are much lower than for the more commonly used TiN. Multilayer coatings have better antiwear properties than single‐layer ones.     

Micro-abrasion wear testing of triode plasma diffusion and duplex treated Ti–6Al–4V alloy

In this paper micro-abrasion wear testing is used to evaluate the wear resistance of triode plasma diffusion-treated, single-layered TiN-, CrAlN-, and WC/C-coated and duplex-diffusion and coated Ti–6Al–4V under uniform three-body rolling abrasion. Nanoindentation, Knoop microhardness, mechanical surface profilometry, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, were used to characterise the surfaces under investigation. Optimum testing conditions for rolling abrasion were established by varying the test parameters and resultant severity of contact. Very low normal loads and high volume fractions of particles in the abrasive slurry are necessary to obtain predictable and reproducible results. Relatively coarse SiC abrasive particles, having a mean diameter of around 3 μm, appear more suitable for micro-abrasion testing of the samples investigated, compared to finer Al₂O₃ particles. Problems associated with the measurement of the scar volume and subsequent calculation of the wear rate for hard coatings deposited on relatively soft metals like titanium are identified, and suitable testing and measurement techniques are suggested. Three-dimensional wear scar maps generated by mechanical stylus profilometry were used to measure the wear volumes. Under the test conditions used, wear coefficients can be determined from perforating and non-perforating tests, although perforating tests provide more consistent results. Triode plasma diffusion treatments, plasma-assisted (PA) PVD TiN and PAPVD CrAlN can reduce the specific wear rate of Ti–6Al–4V, while PACVD-based WC/C coatings do not provide suitable protection against abrasive wear. The combination of triode plasma oxynitriding diffusion treatments and PVD coatings to create duplex treatments can also lead to further reductions in the coating wear coefficient when compared to non-duplex coatings deposited on non-pretreated substrates.     

采用碟形砂轮的斜齿面齿轮磨齿技术研究

为了制造出高精度硬齿面斜齿面齿轮和获得抛物线传动误差并改善啮合性能,对采用碟形砂轮加工双向修形的斜齿面齿轮的磨齿方法进行了研究。设计了渐开线失配的碟形砂轮齿面,分析了碟形砂轮磨削斜齿面齿轮的展成原理,根据展成原理和用渐开线失配的碟形砂轮并改变砂轮的运动,推导出双向修形斜齿面齿轮的齿面方程。给出了双向修形斜齿面齿轮的齿面计算和接触分析实例,结果表明:理论齿面的最大齿面误差为5.98×10-4μm,采用碟形砂轮加工双向修形斜齿面齿轮的磨齿方法是可行的,获得了斜齿面齿轮抛物线传动误差,避免了边缘接触并改善了斜齿面齿轮的啮合性能。     

变位非正交面齿轮副小轮齿向修形轮齿接触分析

建立了变位非正交面齿轮的加工坐标系和啮合坐标系,推导了变位小轮及变位非正交面齿轮的齿面方程,计算得到了面齿轮数值齿面,分析了变位对非正交面齿轮齿宽的影响。在变位的基础上研究了对小轮进行齿向鼓形修形,而面齿轮不修形的修形方式。分别对未变位、变位、变位加小轮齿向修形的三种非正交面齿轮传动形式进行考虑安装误差的轮齿接触分析。研究表明：随着变位系数增大,非正交面齿轮最小内半径、最大外半径及极限齿宽均减小;变位不影响非正交面齿轮副的接触规律;小轮齿向修形能降低接触轨迹对安装误差的敏感性,会引起幅值较小的直线型传动误差。     

Influence of Deposition Positions on Fretting Behaviors of DLC Coating on Ti-6Al-4V

Abstract

The influence of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating positions—coated flat, coated cylinder, and self-mated coated surface tribopairs—on the fretting behaviors of Ti-6Al-4V were investigated using a fretting wear test rig with a cylinder-on-flat contact. The results indicated that, for tests without coating (Ti-6Al-4V–Ti-6Al-4V contact), the friction (Q_max/P) was high (0.8–1.2), wear volumes were large (0.08–0.1?mm³) under a large displacement amplitude of ±40 µm and small (close to 0) under a small displacement amplitude of ±20 µm, and the wear debris was composed of Ti-6Al-4V flakes and oxidized particles. For tests with the DLC coating, under low load conditions, the DLC coating was not removed or was only partially removed, Q_max/P was low (≤0.2), and the wear volumes were small. Under high load conditions, the coating was entirely removed, Q_max/P was high (0.6–0.8), and the wear volumes were similar to those in tests without coating. The wear debris was composed of DLC particles, Ti-6Al-4V flakes, and oxidized particles. The DLC coating was damaged more severely when deposited on a flat surface than when deposited on a cylindrical surface. The DLC coating was damaged more severely when sliding against a DLC-coated countersurface than when sliding against the Ti-6Al-4V alloy.     

Sliding wear behavior of Fe-Al and Fe-Al/WC coatings prepared by high velocity arc spraying

A comparative study was carried out to investigate the microstructure and tribological behavior of Fe-Al and Fe-Al/WC iron aluminide based coatings against Si₃N₄ under dry sliding at room temperature using a pin-on-disc tribotester. The coatings were prepared by high velocity arc spraying (HVAS) and cored wires. The effect of normal load on friction coefficient and wear rate of the coatings was studied. The microstructure and the worn surfaces of the coatings were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion spectroscope (EDS). The results showed that, the main phases in both coatings were iron aluminide (Fe₃Al and FeAl) and α. WC/W₂C particles were embedded in the matrix of the composite coating. With adding WC hard particles, the Fe-Al/WC composite coating exhibited higher wear-resistance than Fe-Al coating. But the friction coefficient of both coatings showed little difference. As the load increased, the friction coefficient decreases slightly due to a rise of friction contact temperature and larger areas of oxide film formation on the worn surface, which act as a solid lubricant. Increasing load causes the maximum shear stress occurring at the deeper position below the surface, thereby aggravating the wear. The coating surface is subjected to alternately tensile stress and compression stress during sliding, and the predominant wear mechanism of the coatings appears to be delamination.     

MoS2/Ti low-friction coating for gears

The applicability of a multilayer composite surface coating in gears is discussed in this work, mainly in what concerns to gear efficiency at normal operating conditions and to scuffing load capacity. The average friction coefficient between gear teeth is discussed and compared with uncoated steel gears.The disulfide molybdenum/titanium (MoS₂/Ti) composite coating is studied and the deposition procedure is described.Several screening tests, like Rockwell indentations, ball cratering, pin-on-disc and reciprocating wear, were performed to evaluate the adhesion to the substrate, the tribological performance of this coating and his applicability in heavy loaded rolling-sliding contacts, such as found in gears.FZG gear efficiency tests were performed using type C gears in order to evaluate the influence of the surface coating in gear efficiency, for a wide range of operating conditions. These tests in conjunction with a numerical model for the energetic balance of the FZG gearbox allowed the determination of the average friction coefficient between gear teeth, taking into account the presence of the surface coating.FZG gear scuffing tests were also performed using type C gears in order to evaluate the coating anti-scuffing performance, which proved to be very significant.     

Wear Initiation of 52100 Steel Sliding Against a Thin Boron Carbide Coating

Boron carbide (B₄C) is well known for its high hardness and wear resistance. It has been found to polish its mating surface and act as a run-in coating if one of the contacting surfaces is coated by B₄C. Employing such run-in coatings demands a thorough understanding of the initiation and development of the polishing process. This paper reports a study on the initiation and development of the surface wear of 52100 steel balls run against B₄C-coated disks. The evolution of the steel surface wear scar and evolution of the contact pressure contours are utilized in connection with changes in the plastically deformed area in order to gain insight into the wear development. Furthermore, variations of fractal parameters of the steel surface and the overall topothesy, which is a measure of the surface anisotropy, are examined in connection with the wear process.     

Multilayer thin film CrN coating on aerospace AL7075-T6 alloy for surface integrity enhancement

Chromium nitride (CrN) coating has emerged as a new alternative in machining applications. CrN has good thermal stability, low deposition temperature, and excellent wear and corrosion resistance. However, no precise information exists yet regarding the ideal coating parameter conditions that lead to higher surface integrity. For this reason, an optimization study is desired—a study on the parameters of CrN coating on aerospace Al7075-T6 alloy using physical vapor deposition magnetron sputtering. The present research work investigates the effects of temperature as well as nitrogen flow rate and DC power on coated samples’ surface hardness, adhesion, surface roughness, and microstructure. To carry out the investigation, the Taguchi optimization method with L₁₆ (3⁴) orthogonal array was applied. However, to obtain optimum parameters for superior surface integrity, signal/noise (S/N) response analysis method was employed. Finally, confirmation tests with the best parameter combinations attained in the optimization process were carried out to demonstrate the progress made. Ultimately, surface hardness of coated Al7075-T6 was enhanced by 15.33 %, adhesion by 24.3 %, and surface roughness by 7.22 %.     

Developing an (Al,Ti)N x C y Interlayer to Improve the Durability of the ta-C Coating on Magnetic Recording Heads

In this study, a new surface pre-treatment technique has been developed to improve the durability of the ultra-thin tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) coating for magnetic tape drive read/write heads. In this technique, prior to the deposition of an 8-nm ta-C overcoat, a 2-nm thin TiN interlayer was deposited on the heads surface and bombarded with energetic Ar⁺ and C⁺ ions. X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy results revealed that this surface pre-treatment technique would lead to the formation of an atomically mixed (AlTi)N _x C _y interlayer which can chemically bond the interlayer to the overcoat and substrate. The effect of this atomically mixed interlayer on the wear resistance of the ta-C coating was investigated using ball-on-flat tests as well as a functional tape drive tester. According to the ball-on-flat test results, the application of the (AlTi)N _x C _y interlayer was able to improve the wear life of the ta-C overcoat by up to 3.3 times as compared to that of the conventional ta-C coating. The results of the wear tests in a real head/tape interface were in agreement with the ball-on-flat results, and showed that while the conventional ta-C film was completely removed from the head surface, the ta-C film with (AlTi)N _x C _y was able to protect the head surface for wear tests of about 1.6 million meters.     

Interlayer thickness influence on the tribological response of bi-layer coatings

The present work deals with the influence of coating thickness on the tribological response of bi-layer model coatings consisting of CrN with Cr interlayer with varying Cr/CrN thickness ratios on high-speed steel. Ball-on-disc experiments were carried out in ambient air at room temperature and alumina balls as counterbodies. The mechanical stresses in both layers generated during the tests were calculated with the software package Elastica. Wear tracks on the samples were characterised using both scanning electron microscopy and optical profilometry. The results show that the interlayer thickness plays a determinant role in the tribological response of the coatings provided that the CrN layer thickness exceeds a critical value to withstand mechanical wear.     

Influence of low friction coatings on the scuffing load capacity and efficiency of gears

The influence of multilayer composite surface coatings on gear scuffing load carrying capacity, gear friction coefficient and gearbox efficiency is discussed in this work.The deposition procedures of molybdenum disulphide/titanium (MoS₂/Ti) and carbon/chromium (C/Cr) composite coatings are described.Tests reported in the literature, such as Rockwell indentations, ball cratering, pin-on-disc and reciprocating wear, confirm the excellent adhesion to the substrate and the tribological performance of these coatings, suggesting they can be applied with success in heavy loaded rolling–sliding contacts, such as those found in gears.FZG gear scuffing tests were performed in order to evaluate the coatings anti-scuffing performance, which both improved very significantly in comparison to uncoated gears. These results in conjunction with the friction power intensity (FPI) scuffing criterion allowed the determination of a friction coefficient factor X_SC to include the coating influence on the friction coefficient expression.The composite coatings were also applied to the gears of a transfer gearbox and its efficiency was measured and compared at different input speeds and torques with the uncoated carburized steel gears. Significant efficiency improvement was found with the MoS₂/Ti coating.     

Experimental discrimination of plowing friction and shear friction

The friction of a diamond spherical indenter sliding on CrN coated nitrided steel was investigated. A friction model was proposed that takes into account plowing and shear friction. With the model the separate contributions of substrate properties and surface condition to the friction were successfully extracted: the shear friction coefficient μ _sh was found to depend exclusively on the surface condition, i.e., not on load on the indenter, hardness of the substrate, and thickness of the coating. On the other hand, the plowing component of friction was independent on surface condition.     

基于LS-DYNA的正交面齿轮动态接触分析

以圆柱齿轮和面齿轮传动为研究对象,采用齿轮啮合原理,分别形成了两者的齿面数据,在此基础上,采用CATIA形成了齿轮齿面,并对齿轮轮齿进行了几何实体造型,而后利用ANSYS/LS-DYNA对面齿轮进行动力学接触仿真分析,计算了齿轮副在动态啮合过程中齿面接触应力的变化情况,并对结果进行相应的分析。     

不同基体CrN/CrCN多层涂层海水环境摩擦学性能研究*

为研究不同基体材料对CrN/CrCN多层涂层在海水环境下摩擦学性能的影响,采用多弧离子镀技术在H65铜合金、TC4钛合金和316L不锈钢基体上沉积CrN和CrN/CrCN多层复合涂层,通过XRD、SEM等技术对涂层的结构进行表征,通过结合力、硬度测试和摩擦磨损试验分析涂层在大气环境和海水环境下的力学性能和摩擦学性能。结果表明:CrN/CrCN多层涂层的内应力相对于CrN明显减小,且硬度相对CrN涂层较高;TC4钛合金为基体的涂层结合力较好且涂层硬度较高;在海水环境下涂层的摩擦因数相对于大气环境都有较大幅度下降,其中,以TC4钛合金和316L不锈钢为基体的涂层摩擦因数较小;以H65铜合金为基体的2种涂层在海水中的磨损率高于大气中,而以TC4合金、316L不锈钢为基体的CrN/CrCN多层涂层在海水环境下的磨损率低于大气环境;TC4钛合金为基体的CrN/CrCN多层涂层在海水环境下具有最低的磨损率,表明TC4钛合金更适合作为海水环境下CrN/CrCN多层涂层耐磨的基体材料。     

HFT准双曲面齿轮的齿根过渡曲面和干涉、根切检验

提出HFT法加工准曲面齿轮的齿根过渡曲面的解析表达，通过计算机数值仿真方法，生成了精确的轮齿模型，得到被切齿轮的实际齿高和根锥；并通过迭代循环设计，获得了既能保证设计齿高和根锥，又能保证设计要求和啮合质量的整套机床调整参数。进一步结合根切和齿顶干涉检验，建立了完整的几何设计、分析和仿真软件系统。