A comparative wear study of sputtered ZrN coatings on Si substrate

ZrN coatings were grown on silicon (100) substrate by reactive pulsed direct current sputtering in a mixture of argon and nitrogen gases. The structural parameters and crystallite size as a function of substrate temperatures in the range 300–873 K were studied using x-ray diffraction. A comparative wear Study of ZrN coatings was performed with steel and ceramic balls to evaluate the frictional properties of coatings. It was found that coefficient of friction of ZrN coatings tested with steel ball is lower than the coatings tested with ceramic balls. It is also found that the coefficient of friction is lower for the coatings deposited at higher temperature (873 K) than the coatings deposited at lower temperature (300 K). The morphology and phase distribution of the wear tracks were examined using scanning electron microscope and were correlated with tribological properties