Tribological behavior and wear mechanisms of TiN/TiCN/TiN multilayer coatings

This work employs the PVD process to deposit coatings of single layer TiN, binary layer TiN/TiCN, multilayer TiN⇔⇔N, and sequenced TiN⇔CN⇔N multilayer coatings with variable individual TiN-layer and TiCN-layer thicknesses on tungsten carbide disks and inserts. Also investigated are the fracture mechanisms and the influence of sequence and thickness of these coatings on cylinder-on-disk, line-contact wear mode and ball-on-disk, point-contact wear mode through SRV reciprocating wear tests. Actual milling tests identify wear performance. Experimental results indicate that the coating with a total thickness of 7 Μm and layer sequence TiN/TiCN/TiN exhibits good wear resistance on SRV wear test and milling test. The thickest multilayer TiN/Ti/TiN coating, although having the highest hardness, has the worst wear resistance for all tests. No-tably zero-wear performance was observed for all coating disks under cutting fluid lubricated condition due to the transferred layers formed between the contact interface.