The effect of substrate properties on tribological behaviour of composite DLC coatings

The unique features of DLC coatings in providing low friction and low wear and, at the same time, causing low wear to the counterface make them very attractive in industrial applications, in improving tribological performance of mechanical components on various substrates. In this study, composite DLC coatings have been deposited on sintered ferrous alloy, M42 tool steel, 2618 aluminium alloy, and 6063 aluminium extrusion substrates using the combined CFUBMS–PACVD technique. The effect of mechanical properties of substrate materials on tribological behaviour of the composite DLC coatings has been investigated at various loads on a ball-on-disk wear machine in dry air. A transition load was usually observed for coatings on the various substrates except for the aluminium extrusion; above the transition load the coating was completely destroyed via some spallation/fragmentation process after 2 h sliding, and the wear rate increased dramatically with further increase in load. The coating system on sintered ferrous alloy substrate exhibited the highest transition load among the four types of substrates studied. This is considered to have resulted from the combined effects of the lower elastic modulus of the porous sintered ferrous alloy substrate, which decreases the stress concentrations in the contact region, and the surface roughness and porosity, which enhance the bonding strength between the coating and the substrate under multi-contact conditions. The high elastic modulus of the tool steel substrate leads to tensile stress conditions in the sliding contact region and therefore makes coatings deposited on such a substrate more prone to breakdown/fragmentation, resulting in a transition load close to that for coatings on the soft 2618 aluminium alloy substrate. For coatings on the 6063 aluminium extrusion substrate, significant plastic deformation occurred in the substrate at loads above 1.5 N. However, despite the heavy deformation in the substrate, coatings on this substrate were not scraped off, as were coatings on the 2618 aluminium alloy substrate, even at a load as high as 20 N. The specific wear rate increased continuously with load, no apparent transition load being explicitly identifiable. This study shows that hard DLC coatings can be applied on both hard and soft substrates for improvement of the tribological behaviour of mechanical components.     

Tribological testing of some potential PVD and CVD coatings for steel wire drawing dies

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility to replace cemented carbide wire drawing dies with CVD or PVD coated steel dies. Material pick-up tendency, friction and wear characteristics of four different commercial coatings – CVD TiC and PVD (Ti,Al)N, CrN and CrC/C – in sliding contact with ASTM 52100 bearing steel were evaluated using pin-on-disc testing. The load bearing capacity of the coating/substrate composites was evaluated using scratch testing. The results show that the friction characteristics and material pick-up tendency of the coatings to a large extent is controlled by the surface topography of the as-deposited coatings which should be improved by a polishing post-treatment in order to obtain a smooth surface. Based on the results obtained in this study, three different coatings – CrC/C, TiC and dual-layer TiC/CrC/C – are recommended to be evaluated in wire drawing field tests. CrC/C and TiC are recommended due to their intrinsic low friction properties and material pick-up tendency in sliding contact with steel. The dual-layer is recommended in order to combine the good properties of the two coatings CrC/C (low shear strength) and TiC (high hardness).     

Microstructure and Wear Behaviors of Plasma-Sprayed FeCrNiMoCBSi Coating with Nano-Grain Dispersed Amorphous Phase in Reciprocating Sliding Contact

A novel FeCrNiMoCBSi amorphous/nanocrystalline coating was fabricated using a plasma spraying process. The coating was dense with a low porosity of approximately 0.99%. The coating consisted of a 67.8 vol% amorphous phase coupled with many nanocrystalline grains that were approximately 5?nm in diameter. The mechanical properties of the as-sprayed coating were determined by nanoindentation measurement, and the tribological behaviors were systematically investigated in a reciprocating sliding contact. The results show that FeCrNiMoCBSi coatings possess superior wear resistance compared to other typically similar Fe-based amorphous coatings. The tribological behaviors evolve with the combination of normal load and sliding velocity. Herein, the dominant wear mechanisms are delamination wear and oxidation wear. With an increase in normal load and sliding velocity, the abrasive wear is gradually weakened, the formation of oxide films on the worn surfaces is facilitated, and wear debris is ground to powder. The oxide films suffer from fatigue wear with induced cracks undergoing reciprocating sliding effects.     

Coatings tribology—contact mechanisms and surface design

The fundamentals of coating tribology are presented by using a generalised holistic approach to the friction and wear mechanisms of coated surfaces in dry sliding contacts. It is based on a classification of the tribological contact process into macromechanical, micromechanical, nanomechanical and tribochemical contact mechanisms, and material transfer. The important influence of thin tribo- and transfer layers formed during the sliding action is shown. Optimal surface design regarding both friction and wear can be achieved by new multi-layer techniques which can provide properties such as reduced stresses, improved adhesion to the substrate, more flexible coatings and harder and smoother surfaces. The differences between contact mechanisms in dry, water- and oil-lubricated contacts with coated surfaces is illustrated by experimental results from diamond-like coatings sliding against a steel and an alumina ball. The mechanisms of the formation of dry transfer layers, tribolayers and lubricated boundary and reaction films are discussed.     

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.     

Durability of plasma-sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr coatings under rolling contact conditions

The aim of this paper was to address the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) failure mechanisms of plasma-sprayed Cr3C2-NiCr coatings under different tribological conditions of contact stress. Weibull distribution plots of fatigue lives of the coated specimens at different contact stresses were obtained. The failure modes of coatings were identified on the basis of wore surface observations of the failed coatings. Results showed that the RCF failure modes can be classified into four main categories, i.e., surface abrasion, spalling, cohesive delamination, and interfacial delamination. The probabilities of the surface abrasion and spalling type failures were relatively high at low contact stress. When the coatings were subjected to abrasion and spalling type failures, the failure of the coating was depended on the microstrcture of the coating. The stress concentration near the micro-defects in the coating may be the may reason for the formation of spall. The coatings were prone to fail in delamination under higher contact stresses. However, the delamination of coating may be related to distribution of shear stress amplitude within coating. The location of maximum shear stress amplitude can be used as a key parameter to predict the initiation of subsurface cracks within coating in rolling contact.     

Tribological properties of selected PVD coatings when slid against ductile materials

In this paper, a physical vapour deposited (PVD) deposited TiB₂ coating is compared in dry sliding with commercial PVD titanium nitride (TiN), titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) and titanium carbonitirde (TiCN) as to frictional properties and tendency of counter material pick-up. The aim is to investigate if the superior behaviour of the TiB₂ coating experienced in severe sliding applications against aluminium alloys can be extended to other materials with a similarly poor tribological characteristics.A new tribological test for sliding contact has been used. The test configuration involves two crossed elongated cylindrical test specimens which are forced to slide axially against each other at a constant sliding speed and a gradually increasing normal load, while recording the friction. The evaluation is performed by correlating the friction history with the width, topography and composition of the sliding tracks as detected by optical and scanning electron microscopy.Coated cemented carbide (CC) test cylinders have been slid against cylinders of a Ti alloy (Ti–6Al–4V), an Al alloy (Al 7075) and Inconel 718. It was shown that the TiB₂ surface displayed superior friction and anti-sticking properties, when tested against the aluminium alloy. Against the Ti and Inconel alloys no major difference between the coatings could be found. Instead, it is concluded that the friction coefficient is determined by the plastic properties of the counter material since a complete transfer layer instantly builds up on the coating.It proved possible to estimate the friction force from the width of the sliding tracks, the Vickers hardness of the counter material and simple plastic considerations. This estimation also verifies the unexpectedly low friction of all coatings against the Ti alloy.     

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.     

表面处理复合涂层的摩擦学评价方法

从涂层的摩擦学评价的重要参数、涂层与基体间的粘合力、涂层力学性能、涂层的摩擦学特性以及涂层零件的摩擦学特性等方面介绍了金属切削刀具和模具等工件的复合涂层的摩擦学涂层的评价方法,指出了在轻合金涂层材料、低摩擦因数的涂层、涂层韧性的改进、涂层磨损试验方法、涂层设计和评价的工具等方面需要进一步研究。     

Effect of Interlayer Thickness of Ion-Plated Pb-Coating on Its Life (SUS440C Substrates)

High-precision ball bearings (SUS440C) used in spacecraft mechanisms that are exposed to deep space vacuum are solid lubricated by thin, adherent Pb ion-plated coatings. The high reliability requirements with long endurance life of these mechanisms solely depend on the tribological aspects of this solid-lubrication coating. Since ion-plated, soft metallic coatings have a graded coating–substrate interface structure, a gradual change in mechanical, chemical and thermal properties is expected across the depth of the coating. This aspect of the interlayer plays a major role in determining the extent of optimum tribological properties of the coating. By improving the interlayer, both in terms of increased thickness and concentration of Pb, a corresponding improvement in the lubricity and endurance life of this Pb ion-plated coating on AISI 440C stainless steel (bearing material) can be assured. For this, a detailed examination of the interlayer of the ion-plated Pb film on the nano-micro level is mandatory. This report is focused on the cross-sectional examination of the interlayer by scanning electron microscopy. SUS440C steel disk specimens having similar properties as the bearing material and with a thin, ion-plated Pb coating processed under two different substrate bias conditions of ion-plating are used. The thickness of the Pb/steel interlayer and the elemental composition are analyzed using SEM and EDS respectively. The endurance life of the coatings is measured by repeated sliding wear tests with a pin-on-disk tester in vacuum. It is confirmed that with an increased thickness of the graded interfacial layer of the Pb ion-plated coating, the coating endurance life is extended remarkably.     

Review of engineered tribological interfaces for improved boundary lubrication

Recent advances in smart surface engineering and coating technologies offer unique possibilities for better controlling friction and wear under boundary or marginally lubricated rolling, sliding or rotating contact conditions. Specifically, such coatings can be tailored to meet the increasingly multi-functional application needs of future engine systems by enabling them to operate in lower viscosity oils with reduced sulfur and phosphorous. Using these technologies, researchers have already pioneered the development of a variety of nano-composite and super-hard coatings providing longer tool life in demanding machining and manufacturing applications. The same technologies can also be used in the design and development of novel coating architectures providing lower friction and wear under boundary-lubricated sliding conditions. For example, such coatings can be tailored in a very special way that while one of the phases can favorably react with certain additives in engine oils to result in an ideal chemical boundary film; the other phases can provide super-hardness and hence resists wear and scuffing. Because of their very dense microstructure and high chemical inertness, these coatings can also provide superior protection against oxidation and corrosive attacks in aggressive environments. The use of solid lubricant coatings may also improve the tribological properties of sliding contact interfaces under boundary lubricated sliding conditions. When fluid and boundary films fails or is broken down, such coatings can carry the load and act as a back-up lubricant. Other smart surface technologies such as laser texturing and/or dimpling, laser-glazing and -shotpeening have also become very popular in recent years. In particular, laser texturing of control or coated surfaces have opened up new possibilities for further manipulation of the lubrication regimes in classical Stribeck diagrams. Controlling dimple size, shape, orientation, and density, researchers were able to modify both the width and the height of the boundary lubrication regimes and thus achieve lower friction and wear at sliding and rotating contact interfaces. Overall, smart surface engineering and coating technologies have matured over the years and they now become an integral part of advanced machining and manufacturing applications. They can also be used to meet the increasingly stringent and multi-functional application needs of demanding tribological applications. In this paper, selected examples of recently developed novel surface engineering and coating technologies are introduced, and the fundamental tribological mechanisms that control their friction and wear behavior under boundary lubrication regimes are presented.     

The effects of contact configuration and coating morphology on the tribological behaviour of tetrahedral amorphous diamond-like carbon (ta-C DLC) coatings under boundary lubrication

ABSTRACT

Tribological studies were carried out with tetrahedral amorphous diamond-like carbon (ta-C DLC) coatings, varying in thickness and roughness, using two different contact configurations lubricated with seven types of hydraulic oils. Tribopair of cast iron and ta-C coated steel were tested in both non-conformal and conformal, unidirectional sliding contacts. The friction and wear results were mainly affected by the thickness of the coating in the non-conformal contact and the surface roughness of the coating in the conformal contact. Tests done with mineral base oil containing rust inhibitor in the non-conformal contact and with Polyalphaolefins and synthetic ester base oils in the conformal contact resulted in the lowest friction while that with mineral base oil containing zinc resulted in high friction and counterface wear. The results highlight the interdependence of contact configuration, lubricant chemistry, coating’s surface morphology and coating’s thickness in determining the tribological behaviour of ta-C coatings under boundary lubrication.     

Ceramic coatings in the war on wear

The conditions for elastic contact between the asperities on contacting surfaces are considered in this paper, and a unique relationship between the plasticity index and the non-dimensional nominal pressure is provided. If conditions of elastic contact can be maintained then mechanical wear can occur only by fatigue. It is shown that such conditions can be realistically maintained with ceramics over a wide pressure range and with polymers and rubbers at relatively low pressures.

Recent developments in surface coating technology enable ceramic coatings to provide excellent solutions to many tribological problems. The effects on the tribological properties of such coatings of surface finish, effective elastic modulus, effective hardness and coating thickness are described.     

Tribological behaviour and wear mechanism of MoS2–Cr coatings sliding against various counterbody

MoS₂–Cr coatings with different Cr contents have been deposited on high speed steel substrates by closed field unbalanced magnetron (CFUBM) sputtering. The tribological properties of the coatings have been tested against different counterbodies under dry conditions using an oscillating friction and wear tester. The coating microstructures, mechanical properties and wear resistance vary according to the Cr metal-content. MoS₂ tribological properties are improved with a Cr metal dopant in the MoS₂ matrix. The optimum Cr content varies with different counterbodies. Showing especially good tribological properties were MoS₂–Cr8% coating sliding against either AISI 1045 steel or AA 6061 aluminum alloy, and MoS₂–Cr5% coating sliding against bronze. Enhanced tribological behavior included low wear depth on coating, low wear width on counterbody, low friction coefficients and long durability.     

Examination of tribological properties of plasma surface layer using special test equipment

The hardness, adhesion, and tribological behaviour of magnetron-deposited coatings (TiN and (Ti,Al)N) have been determined and related to microstructure composition. To enhance the adhesion of the coating, plasma nitriding of substrates was employed. Wear behaviour, coefficient of friction and contact temperature were measured using computerised data acquisition and processing. The bonding force between the coated samples and counter material was monitored and controlled by newly designed and constructed equipment, to keep a constant level of load during sliding. With the new hardware and software, it was possible to monitor on-line the development of the wear process. The hardware consisted of PC computer, piezoelectric transducer, sensors with high sensitivity, microprocessor-controlled measuring system, AD/DA transformer, and multichannel plotter. The wear zone morphology and characteristics of the surface layer structure and other important properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) of the wear scars on pins provided essential information on the wear characteristics. Based on the results, the correlations between the mechanical properties, the surface structure, and tribological characteristics are explained.     

A new test method for measuring the galling resistance between metal powders and die tool materials in powder compaction

The friction characteristics and galling resistance between metal powder and die tool material in metal powder compaction is of outmost importance since they will influence the porosity and surface quality of the green body and consequently the porosity, tolerances and surface quality of the final sintered product. In the present study, a new test method for evaluating the tribological performance of die tool materials aimed for powder compaction is presented. The test method is based on controlled scratch testing using a commercial scratch tester but instead of the commonly used Rockwell C diamond stylus a sample holder with a small green body of compacted powder particles is drawn over the surface in a well controlled multi pass linear reciprocating sliding contact. The capability of the test method was evaluated for different types of tool materials including two PVD coatings in contact with different types of metal powders to determine the friction characteristics and the adhesion and material transfer tendency at the sliding interface. Post-test examination of the tool surfaces using FEG-SEM and EDS were performed in order to evaluate the mechanisms controlling the friction behavior and the material transfer tendency. The results show that the proposed test is a simple and fast method to obtain relevant data regarding the friction and galling characteristics of die tool materials in metal powder compaction. The mechanisms prevailing at the green body/die tool material interface, e.g. cold welding, can easily be monitored by the friction and acoustic emission signals. Of the die tool materials investigated the low friction PVD a-C:Cr coating displayed the lowest friction and highest galling resistance.     

Tribology of polymers

Tribological studies were performed on the friction and wear behaviour of polymers under conditions of dry sliding. The investigations were carried out with thermoplastics suitable for practical applications, eg HDPE, PP, PTFE, PA 6, PA 66, POM, PETP, PBTP, PI, as well as with some filled and reinforced polymers and composite materials. For polymer-polymer sliding pairs, the experimentally determined friction values could be related to the surface energies of the material pairings. In the case of polymer-metal sliding pairs, a relationship between the combined interfacial stresses and the rupture strength of the polymers was found. In addition to the review of correlations between the tribological behaviour of thermoplastics and material properties, the dependency of wear and friction on surface roughness, sliding velocity and contact pressure for various filled polymers is described.     

Friction and Thermal Effects of Engineering Plastics Sliding Against Steel and DLN-Coated Counterfaces

Polymers are increasingly used in tribological applications, because of their self-lubricating ability, corrosion resistance and chemical compatibility. However, their performance depends strongly on the parameters of the total tribological system. Not only polymer characteristics, but also counterface properties become important because of their influence on friction and wear, on surface energy and on the thermal conductivity of the total system. Applying a Diamond-Like Nanocomposite (DLN) coating on a steel counterface can improve the tribological behaviour of the sliding couple under certain conditions. In the case of metal sliding against DLN, the high hardness and the wear resistance of the coating is advantageous for better tribological properties. However, for polymers sliding against DLN, the lower thermal conductivity of the DLN coating compared with a steel mating surface dominates friction and wear. In case of polyamides this results in worse tribological performance in contact with the DLN coating, because of polymer melting. In the case of more rigid polymers, such as, e.g., POM-H and PETP, lower coefficients of friction lead to lower frictional heat generation. In these cases, the thermal characteristics of the counterface are less important and the lower surface energy of the DLN coating is favourable for decreased adhesion between the polymer and the coating and consequently better tribological properties.     

Sliding wear resistance of metallic coated surfaces

The role of metallic coatings in sliding wear is examined experimentally. The results indicate that the tribological behavior of soft coatings is consistent with the delamination theory of wear, especially the critical nature of the plating thickness. It is shown that a reduction in wear rate of three orders of magnitude is possible when the coating material is softer than the substrate and thinner than a critical thickness. The optimum plate thickness is found to be of the order of 0.1 μm for cadmium, silver, gold or nickel plated on various types of steel. Cadmium, silver and nickel reduce wear only in non-oxidizing environments, whereas gold reduces wear both in air and in inert atmospheres.The roughness of the substrate surface prior to plating and the nature of the coating/substrate bond have significant effects on the life of these coatings. The life of the coatings is increased by polishing the substrate to 0.1 μm (c.l.a.) prior to plating, and also by diffusion of the plated material into the substrate, which increases the coating/substrate bond strength.     

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.