Abstract
To investigate the origin of running-in friction in unlubricated sliding wear, a magnetron sputtered multilayer coating TiAlN/VN was tested on a ball-on-disc tribometer for a series of sliding durations from 10 to 1000 cycles, followed by careful observation of the obtained worn surfaces using an field-emission gun scanning electron microscope. Three steps of friction variation were found: (1) prior to wear particle generation, low initial friction coefficient was around 0.2–0.25 purely attributed to the asperity contact; (2) then it increased steeply to a range of 0.4–0.5 in the first 100 cycles following the generation, breaking and agglomeration of wear particles, and in particular the scaling-up of fish-scale-like tribofilm; (3) eventually it approached to a steady-state value around 0.5 when the friction was governed by the viscous shearing of the tribofilm. It is concluded that, under unlubricated sliding wear, the friction behaviour of transition metal nitride hard coating is dominated by the viscous shearing of tribofilm adhesively bonding to the parent nitride coating.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Luo, Q., Hovsepian, P.Eh., Lewis, D.B., Münz, W.D., Kok, Y.N., Cockrem, J., Bolton, M., Farinotti, A.: Tribological perperties of unbalanced magnetron sputtered nanoscale multilayer coatings TiAlN/VN and TiAlCrYN deposited on plasma nitrided steels. Surf. Coat. Technol. 193, 39–45 (2005)
Luo, Q., Hovsepian, P.Eh.: Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy on the worn surface of nano-structured TiAlN/VN multilayer coating. Thin Solid Films 497, 203–209 (2006)
Luo, Q., Zhou, Z., Rainforth, W.M., Hovsepian, P.Eh.: TEM-EELS study of low-friction superlattice TiAlN/VN coating: the wear mechanisms. Tribol. Lett. 24, 171–178 (2006)
Ajayi, O.O., Ludema, K.C.: Mechanism of transfer film formation during repeat pass sliding of ceramic materials. Wear 140, 191–206 (1990)
Xu, J.G., Kato, K.: Formation of tribochemical layer of ceramics sliding in water and its role for low friction. Wear 245, 61–75 (2000)
Fischer, T.E., Zhu, Z., Kim, H., Shin, D.S.: Genesis and role of wear debris in sliding wear of ceramics. Wear 245, 53–60 (2000)
Jones, A.H., Dobedoe, R.S., Lewis, M.H., Lumby, R.J.: Sialon/TiB2 composites: synthesis, properties, and tribology. Br. Ceram. Trans. 98, 274–281 (1999)
Biswas, S.K.: Some mechanisms of tribofilm formation in metal/metal and ceramic/metal sliding interactions. Wear 245, 178–189 (2000)
Xu, J., Kato, K.: The effect of water vapour on the agglomeration of wear particles of ceramics. Wear 202, 165–171 (1997)
Xu, J., Kato, K., Hirayama, T.: The transition of wear mode during the running-in process of silicon nitride sliding in water. Wear 205, 55–63 (1997)
Dienwiebel, M., Pohlmann, K.: Nanoscale evolution of sliding metal surfaces during running-in. Tribol. Lett. 27, 255–260 (2007)
Nogueira, I., Dias, A.M., Gras, R., Progri, R.: An experimental model for mixed friction during running-in. Wear 253, 541–549 (2002)
Engqvist, H., Hogberg, H., Botton, G.A., Ederyd, S., Axen, N.: Tribofilm formation on cemented carbides in dry sliding conformal contact. Wear 239, 219–228 (2000)
Münz, W.D., Donohue, L.A., Hovsepian, P.Eh.: Properties of various large-scale fabricated TiAlN- and CrN-based superlattice coatings grown by combined cathodic arc-unbalanced magnetron sputter deposition. Surf. Coat. Technol. 125, 269–277 (2000)
Hovsepian, P.Eh., Lewis, D.B., Münz, W.D.: Recent progress in large scale manufacturing of multilayer/superlattice hard coatings. Surf. Coat. Technol. 133–134, 166–175 (2000)
Luo, Q., Lewis, D.B., Hovsepian, P.Eh., Münz, W.D.: Transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction investigation of the microstructure of nanoscale multilayer TiAlN/VN grown by unbalanced magnetron deposition. J. Mater. Res. 19, 1093–1104 (2004)
Meidia, H., Cullis, A.G., Schonjahn, C., Münz, W.D., Rodenburg, J.M.: Investigation of intermixing in TiAlNyVN nanoscale multilayer coatings by energy-filtered TEM. Surf. Coat. Technol. 151–152, 209–213 (2002)
Münz, W.D., Smith, I.J., Lewis, D.B., Creasey, S.: Droplet formation on steel substrates during cathodic steered arc meytal ion etching. Vacuum 48, 473–481 (1997)
Rymuza, Z.: Energy concept of the coefficient of friction. Wear 199, 187–196 (1996)
Luo, Q., Zhou, Z., Rainforth, W.M., Bolton, M.: Effect of tribofilm formation on the dry sliding friction and wear properties of magnetron sputtered TiAlCrYN coatings. Tribol. Lett. 34, 113–124 (2009)
Blau, P.J.: On the nature of running-in. Tribol. Int. 38, 1007–1012 (2005)
Blau, P.J.: Embedding wear models into friction models. Tribol. Lett. 34, 75–79 (2009)
Luo, Q., Rainforth, W.M., Münz, W.D.: TEM studies of the wear of TiAlN/CrN superlsttice coatings. Scr. Mater. 45, 399–404 (2001)
Inman, I.A., Datta, P.K., Du, H.L., Burnell-Gray, J.S., Pierzgalski, S., Luo, Q.: Studies of high temperature sliding wear of metallic dissimilar interfaces. Tribol. Int. 38, 812–823 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Luo, Q. Origin of Friction in Running-in Sliding Wear of Nitride Coatings. Tribol Lett 37, 529–539 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9548-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9548-x