Tribological behaviour of mechanically synthesized titanium-boron carbide nanostructured coating

In this paper, titanium-boron carbide (Ti/B4C) nanocomposite coatings with different B4C nanoparticles contents were fabricated by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) method by using B4C nanoparticles with average nanoparticle size of 40 nm. The characteristics of the nanopowder and coatings were evaluated by microhardness test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Friction and wear performances of nanocomposite coatings and pure titanium substrate were comparatively investigated, with the effect of the boron carbide content on the friction and wear behaviours to be emphasized. The results show the microhardness, friction and wear behaviours of nanocomposite coatings are closely related with boron carbide nanoparticle content. Nanocomposite coating with low B4C content shows somewhat (slight) increased microhardness and wear resistance than pure titanium substrate, while nanocomposite coating with high B4C content has much better (sharp increase) wear resistance than pure titanium substrate. The effect of B4C nanoparticles on microhardness and wear resistance was discussed.