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Abrasive and Adhesive Wear Behavior of Arc-Evaporated Al1−x Cr x N Hard Coatings

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Abstract

During the last decade, the usage of difficult-to-machine materials such as austenitic stainless steels has increased continuously in various industrial applications. Tools such as blind hole taps, punches, or deep drawing molds are often exposed to severe wear while machining/forming these materials, mainly due to excessive adhesion and material transfer. On combination with abrasive wear due to work-hardened wear debris, tool lifetime in these applications is often limited. In this study, ball-on-disc experiments were carried out with arc-evaporated AlCrN coatings with different Al/(Al + Cr) ratios against Al2O3 and austenitic stainless steel balls in ambient atmosphere. Test temperatures of 25, 500, and 700°C were chosen for the hard Al2O3 balls simulating severe abrasive loads, whereas 25, 150, and 250°C were used for the softer stainless steel material to evaluate the adhesive wear behavior. Characterization of the wear tracks was done by scanning electron microscopy in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and optical profilometry. The best abrasive wear resistance during testing against Al2O3 was observed for the coating with the highest Al content. In the case of the austenitic stainless steel balls, sticking of the ball material to the coating surface was the dominating wear mechanism. The influence of test temperature, chemical composition, and surface roughness was studied in detail.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this work was financially supported by the Christian Doppler Society and PLANSEE Composite Materials GmbH, Lechbruck, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. OERLIKON BALZERS Ltd., 9496, Balzers, Liechtenstein

    A. E. Reiter

  2. Christian Doppler Laboratory For Advanced Hard Coatings at the Department of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    C. Mitterer, M. Rebelo de Figueiredo & R. Franz

Authors
  1. A. E. Reiter
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  2. C. Mitterer
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  3. M. Rebelo de Figueiredo
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  4. R. Franz
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Correspondence to A. E. Reiter.

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Reiter, A.E., Mitterer, C., de Figueiredo, M.R. et al. Abrasive and Adhesive Wear Behavior of Arc-Evaporated Al1−x Cr x N Hard Coatings. Tribol Lett 37, 605–611 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9557-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9557-9

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