Wear-Resistant Layered Electrospark Coatings Based on ZrB2

We have studied the composition and tribological parameters (coefficient of friction and wear rate) of coatings obtained in electrospark alloying (ESA) of steel 45 with the composite ceramic ZrB₂ – SiC – B₄C based on zirconium diboride. We have shown that layer-by-layer electrospark alloying using Ti – Al – N composites to form an undercoat reduces the coefficient of friction of the coating down to 0.12-0.20 while maintaining a rather low wear level (7-11 μm/km). We have analyzed the effect of the composition of the secondary structures which are formed during tribo-oxidation under dry friction conditions.