Biotribological properties of Ti/TiB2 multilayers in simulated body solution

Ti/TiB₂ multilayers with various modulation ratios were prepared by magnetron sputtering on biomedical titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. The tribological properties of the multilayers sliding against ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene under lubrication with Hank׳s solution were also investigated. The results demonstrated that the tribological properties strongly depended on the modulation ratios of multilayers. The coefficient of friction of multilayers with a modulation ratio of 1:5 was 0.1, a reduction by 28.6%; the wear volume loss of UHMWPE decreased by almost one order of magnitude compared to that of Ti6Al4V alloy, exhibiting excellent anti-friction and anti-wear properties. The oxidation wear of Ti6Al4V alloy could be restrained effectively and converted to abrasion wear and/or adhesive wear by the laminate structures in the multilayers, suggesting that this material may serve as a potential candidate for the surface modification of artificial joints.     

Deposition of duplex Al2O3/TiN coatings on aluminum alloys for tribological applications using a combined microplasma oxidation (MPO) and arc ion plating (AIP)

Microplasma oxidation (MPO) has recently been studied as a cost-effective plasma electrolytic process to provide thick and hard ceramic coatings with excellent surface load-bearing capacity on aluminum alloys. However, for sliding wear applications, such ceramic coatings often exhibit relatively high friction coefficients against many counterface materials. Although coatings deposited by physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques such as TiN coatings are well known for providing surfaces with a high hardness, in practice they often exhibit poor performance under mechanical loading, since the coatings are usually too thin to protect the substrate from the contact conditions. In this paper, these challenges were overcome by a duplex process of microplasma oxidation and arc ion plating (AIP), in which an alumina layer Al₂O₃ was deposited on an Al alloy substrate (using MPO as a pre-treatment process) for load support, and a TiN hard coatings were deposited (using AIP) on top of the Al₂O₃ layer for low friction coefficient. Microhardness measurements, pin-on-disc sliding wear tests, and antiwear tests using a Timken tester were performed to evaluate the mechanical and tribological properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe coating morphology, and to examine wear scars from pin-on-disc test. The research demonstrates that a hard and uniform TiN coating, with good adhesion and a low coefficient of friction, can successfully be deposited on top of an alumina intermediate layer to provide excellent load support. The investigations indicate that a duplex combination of MPO coating and TiN PVD coating represents a promising technique for surface modification of Al alloys for heavy surface load bearing application.     

Sliding friction and wear of Cu–graphite against 2024, AZ91D and Ti6Al4V at different speeds

Cu–graphite composite fabricated by powder metallurgy art is no longer novel material. However, it might be a versatile self-lubricating material sliding against different metals and alloys. In this connection, understanding towards its tribological behavior and wear mechanism is very important. Sliding tribological behaviors of Cu–graphite composite against different counterparts, specified as 2024 aluminium alloy, AZ91D magnesium alloy, and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy, were investigated over varied sliding speeds at room temperature in air. The friction and wear tests were conducted on a pin-on-disk tribo-meter. Tribological performance of Cu–graphite composite strongly depended on its counterpart materials. Cu–graphite composite could provide friction reduction in sliding against 2024 and Ti6Al4V. Cu–graphite composite was a good self-lubricating material in sliding against AZ91D at low speeds but not at 0.25 and 0.50 m/s. Wear mechanism of Cu–Gr composite was related to the transfer, counter-transfer, mechanical mixing and tribo-oxidation at tribo-interface. Sliding speed had influences on tribo-interface and thereby wear mechanism. Finally, the effects of naturally occurred oxide film and sliding speed were discussed.     

Assessment and application of TiB2 coating in sliding pair under lubrication conditions

The aim of the present work is to determine the influence of TiB₂ coating on the friction parameters in sliding pairs under lubricated friction conditions. The TiB₂ coating deposited on modified surface layers of ring specimens made of AISI 5045 steel was matched under test conditions with counterparts made from SAE-783 and SAE-48 bearing alloys. Tested sliding pairs were lubricated with 5 W/40 Lotos synthetic engine oil. Tribological properties of the TiB₂ coating were measured using a block-on-ring tribometer. The applied modification technology of the surface layer of steel allowed for obtaining construction material with pre-determined tribological characteristics required for the elements of sliding pairs in lubricated contact. The results showed differences in the wear of bearing alloys, as a result of the interaction between co-operating surface layers and of the physiochemical changes of their surfaces, induced by external forces. Friction resistance and temperature in the friction area in the pair with TiB₂ coating and the SAE-783 bearing alloy are considerably higher than in the pair with the SAE-48 bearing alloy. The SAE-48 bearing alloy is subjected to more intensive wear processes in contact with the TiB₂ coating than the SAE-783 bearing alloy.     

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.     

Proper coating selection for improved galling performance of forming tool steel

The aim of the present work was to investigate and compare different hard coatings as to the tendency for work material adhesion and galling properties when applied on forming tool steel and sliding against different work materials. The surface coatings included were PVD deposited TiN, TiB₂, VN, TaC and DLC coatings. They were all applied to cold work tool steel. Tribological evaluation was carried out in a load-scanning test rig, with the normal load being gradually increased during each test from 100 to 1300 N (1-3.5 GPa). The coated steel was tested against austenitic stainless steel and alloys of aluminium and titanium.This investigation clearly indicates that work material adhesion and galling performance of coated forming tool steel greatly depends on the type of work material. In the case of stainless steel, carbon-based coatings provide the best protection against the work material transfer, while forming of aluminium and titanium alloys, requires nitride type coatings, such as TiN.     

Tribological performances of ZDDP and ashless triphenyl phosphorothionate (TPPT) as lubricant additives on Ti–N and Ti–Al–N coated steel surfaces

Abstract

In recent years, there has been much attention on the effects of lubricant additives on the friction and wear properties of surface coatings. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the influence of antiwear additives on the tribological performances of titanium nitride (Ti–N) and titanium aluminium nitride (Ti–Al–N) coatings. It has been reported that introducing aluminium into Ti–N coatings enhanced their oxidation resistance. In this study utilising a pin on cylinder tribometer, lubricants containing zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) or a more environmentally friendly alternative, ashless triphenyl phosphorothionate (TPPT), were used. Experimental results revealed that ZDDP and TPPT helped to reduce wear on both coatings through the formation of a tribofilm, although it was also found that both additives increased the friction coefficient on both surfaces. Based on overall findings, this paper suggests the use of TPPT as a suitable ZDDP replacement for providing wear protection on Ti–N and Ti–Al–N coatings.     

Effects of Deposition Conditions and Counter Bodies on the Tribological Properties of Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtered TiN–MoS<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> Composite Coating

In the current study, TiN–MoS _x composite coatings were deposited by co-sputtering of MoS₂ and Ti targets under a mixture of Ar and N₂ gas environment using pulsed DC closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The tribological response of TiN–MoS _x composite coatings was studied against two different counter bodies: cemented carbide (WC–6% Co) ball and pin made of aluminium alloy (AlSiMg). First, the effect of substrate bias was studied on tribological properties using cemented carbide ball. Lowest coefficient of friction in the range of 0.03–0.04 was obtained for the specimen deposited at a substrate bias of −60 V. Wear coefficient was also found to be minimum for the same specimen. Coatings were further deposited at an optimum bias of −60 V in order to vary MoS _x content of TiN–MoS _x composite coating. Effect of variation of chemical composition of the coating was then studied on tribological performance of the coating against aluminium alloy counterface. Excellent anti-sticking property of MoS _x was found to have enabled the TiN–MoS _x composite coating to achieve considerably low coefficient of friction against aluminium alloy. It was shown that with optimum MoS _x content of TiN–MoS _x composite coating, it was possible to attain as low coefficient of friction as 0.09 against aluminium alloy even under normal atmospheric condition.     

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.     

Functional behaviour of PVD coatings under sliding and rolling stress conditions

Whereas wear-resistant PVD coatings are well established in the field of metalcutting, and the functional and tribological behaviour of these coatings is well known under such conditions, PVD coatings are used only occasionally in mechanical engineering. The reason for this seems to be the lack of information concerning the functional behaviour of these coatings in closed tribosystems. To evaluate new areas of application together with optimised coating compounds, model wear tests were performed under sliding, rolling and slip-rolling stress conditions. In addition, the test parameters, such as sliding speed, load, ambient temperature, and number of revolutions were varied, as were the coating compounds and their thicknesses. The results obtained show that friction and wear of PVD coatings are both strongly influenced by the kind of stress and the test parameters themselves. Coatings that perform well under certain test conditions can break down quickly under some other stress conditions. TiN coatings, for example, which display low friction and wear under sliding friction, fail under rolling conditions very shortly afterwards.     

Ti6Al4V/WC-Co干摩擦性能研究

利用Optimal SRV高温摩擦磨损试验机,研究干摩擦条件下钛合金(Ti6Al4V)对硬质合金(WC-Co)的摩擦学性能.研究了载荷、温度与滑动速度对摩擦过程的影响,通过磨损区微观形貌表征分析了磨损机理.结果表明:Ti6Al4V与WC-Co的摩擦系数波动剧烈,产生了严重的黏滑摩擦,且随着载荷、温度与滑动速度的增加,黏...     

Tribological studies of coated pistons sliding against cylinder liners under laboratory test conditions

The presence of coatings and surface topography play an important role in the tribological performance of sliding components. Depending on the coating used, it is possible to reduce friction and/or reduce wear. However, although there may be low friction and wear‐resistant coatings suitable for use in pistons, some coatings may hinder the tribological performance by changing the lubrication regime or by preventing additives from their intended function through chemical mechanisms. In this work, piston skirt segments extracted from a commercial aluminium alloy piston were coated with a diamond‐like carbon (DLC) coating, a graphite–resin coating or a nickel–polytetrafluoroethylene (Ni–PTFE) coating and were tribologically tested using a reciprocating laboratory test rig against commercial grey cast iron liner segments. The tribological tests used commercial synthetic motor oil at a temperature of 120 °C with a 20 mm stroke length at a reciprocating frequency of 2 Hz. Results showed that the graphite–resin coating, although it may serve as a good break‐in coating, wears rapidly. The Ni–PTFE coating showed friction reduction, whereas the DLC coating wore off quickly due to its small thickness. Furthermore, the higher hardness of the DLC coating relative to the cast iron liner surface led to pronounced changes on the liner counterface by polishing. In contrast with the uncoated piston skirt segments, all of the coatings prevented the formation of a visible tribochemical film on the cast iron surface. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reciprocating Sliding Wear Performance of Hard Coating on Modified Titanium Alloy Surfaces

The high strength, low weight, and outstanding corrosion resistance properties possessed by titanium alloys have led to a wide range of successful applications in aerospace, automotive, and chemical industries and in power generation. Titanium alloys are characterized by poor wear resistance properties and their utilization has been excessive in nontribological applications. Surface texturing is a well-known and effective means of surface modification to improve the tribological properties of sliding surfaces. In the present work, modification of titanium alloy surfaces (Ti6Al4V) was done by lapping and laser surface texturing. The wear-resistant coating, AlCrN, was applied over the modified titanium alloy surfaces, with and without a chromium interlayer. Linear reciprocating sliding wear tests were performed with ball-on-flat contact geometry to evaluate the tribological performance of the coated alloy. The tests were performed under different normal loads for a period of 105 cycles at a frequency of 5 Hz. The friction force between the contact pair and displacement of the ball were simultaneously observed using a force transducer and laser displacement sensor. Optical microscopy was used to quantify the wear volume by measuring the wear scar diameter on both the specimen and the counterbody. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to study the morphology of the wear scar. The characteristic behavior of the AlCrN coating such as bonding strength, wear volume, wear rate, and coefficient of friction with the chromium interlayer was evaluated and compared with the coating directly applied over the substrate. The coating on the textured surface, with the chromium interlayer showed better tribological performance.     

Tribofilm formation from TiC and nanocomposite TiAlC coatings,studied with focused ion beam and transmission electron microscopy

This work demonstrate how two different carbide coatings respond very differently to tribological stress and their very different ability to provide low friction tribofilms in dry sliding against steel. Both coatings, TiC and TiAlC, were deposited by DC-magnetron sputtering, but while the TiC is a thermodynamically stable coating, the TiAlC is made metastable with the addition of Al, and therefore releases carbon upon tribological testing. Thus, the TiAlC coating is shown to be self-lubricating on the atomic scale which makes very low friction achievable. The primary interest in this study is the differences in the tribofilms formed on the steel balls that have been sliding against the two coatings. Cross-section samples for transmission electron microscopy were extracted from the ball tribofilms using a focused ion beam instrument. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman analysis were employed to provide information on the chemical and structural characteristics of the tribofilms. It was shown that tribofilms on steel balls largely inherit the structure and composition that evolve in the coating wear tracks, that the tribofilm microstructure greatly affects the friction level. It was also shown that tribofilm delamination, occurring with tribofilm growth, was initiated in weak ribbon like regions inside the tribofilm.     

A study on the influence of laser power on microstructural evolution and tribological functionality of metallic coatings deposited on Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Metallic Ti–Co binary coatings were fabricated on titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V) substrate by laser surface cladding technique using a continuous wave RofinSinar 4 kW Nd: YAG laser. The influence of laser power on microstructure, hardness and tribological performance of Ti–Co laser clad coatings on titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V) was examined. Laser powers of 750 and 900 W were varied with constant scan speed of 1.2 m/min. A beam size of 3 mm and argon shield gas flow rate of 1.2 L/min were set as the operating laser parameters. Phase identification and morphological studies of the coatings were carried out using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Based on the results of laser process optimisation, it was observed that both laser powers produced clad coatings with good metallurgical bond with no cracks or pores in the coatings. With respect to the substrate (Ti–6Al–4V), the microstructure, hardness and friction/wear behaviour of Ti–Co coatings on Ti–6Al–4V substrate were enhanced obviously.     

Development of nano-structured Al2O3-TiB2-TiN coatings by combined SHS and laser surface alloying

A powder mixture of aluminium (Al), titania (TiO₂) and hexa-boron nitride (h-BN) was laser-triggered to undergo SHS (self-propagating high temperature synthesis) and was subsequently laser alloyed onto a mild steel substrate surface. A nano-structured coating was formed with high microhardness (～3000 HV_0.05 at the cross-section and ～2600 HV_0.2 on the top surface). X-ray diffraction (XRD) identified the presence of aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃), titanium di-boride (TiB₂), titanium nitride (TiN), iron (Fe) and its borides (FeB, Fe₂B) in the coating. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) analysis of the coating revealed nano-fibrous titanium-rich reinforcements in a matrix of nano-crystalline alumina. The thickness of titanium di-boride nano-fibres was an order of magnitude higher than the size of nano-alumina crystallites.     

Tribological properties of composite multilayer coating

Abstract

The use of surface coatings is emerging as one of the most important approaches in reducing friction and wear in various tribological applications. Even though single layer coatings have a wide range of applications, the performance of the single layer alone may not always be adequate to meet the desired tribological property requirements. Hence, coatings consisting of multilayers to meet different property requirements in demanding applications are required. In this study, the tribological properties of a graded composite multilayer coating, with a specific layer sequence of MoS₂/Ti–MoS₂/TiBN–TiBN–TiB₂–Ti deposited on tool steel substrate, have been investigated at temperatures of 40 and 400°C respectively. The experimental results from the tests at 40°C have shown that the friction coefficient value ranges between 0·02 and 0·034. It was found that the deposition parameters influenced the friction and durability of the coatings. Higher substrate bias was found to result in higher friction, and the coating deposited at high substrate bias and low N₂ flow showed the lowest durability. The friction coefficient and durability of the coatings were found to be highly dependent on temperature. At high temperature, the friction coefficient increases almost threefold, and the durability decreases significantly.     

Wear resistance and anti-sticking properties of duplex treated forming tool steel

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of using hard physical vapour deposition (PVD) coatings on forming tools, as well as to determine the influence of plasma nitriding on the load-carrying capacity and wear resistance of coated tool surfaces. A load-scanning test rig was used for evaluation, where duplex treated cold work tool steel samples were loaded against soft austenitic stainless steel and hardened ball bearing steel, respectively. Four different coatings (TiN, TiB₂, TaC and DLC) and two substrate treatments (hardening and plasma nitriding in two different gas mixtures) were included.Plasma nitriding alone significantly improved the friction, wear, and anti-sticking properties of the tool steel. PVD coating, and especially PVD coating of nitrided tool steel further improved the performance. Therefore, from the point of view of tool life as well as work peace surface quality, the DLC coating with its excellent anti-sticking properties and sufficiently good wear resistance represent the best solution for forming tool applications of austenitic stainless steel.     

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.     

Structural and tribological characterization of tungsten nitride coatings at elevated temperature

Transition metal nitrides exhibit excellent mechanical properties (hardness and Young's modulus), high melting point, good chemical stability and high electrical conductivity. However, tungsten nitrides still stand aside of the main attention. In our previous study, tungsten nitride coatings with different nitrogen content showed excellent wear resistance at room temperature. Nevertheless, many engineering applications require good tribological properties at elevated temperature. Thus, the present study is focused on the tribological behaviour (friction coefficient and wear rate) of tungsten nitride coatings at temperature up to 600 °C.

The structure, hardness, friction and wear of tungsten nitride coatings with nitrogen content in the range 30–58 at.% prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering were investigated. The tribological tests were performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer in terrestrial atmosphere with Al₂O₃ balls as sliding partner. The coating wear rate was negligible up to 200 °C exhibiting a decreasing tendency; however, the wear dramatically increased at higher temperatures. The coating peeled off after the test at 600 °C, which is connected with the oxidation of the coating.