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Effect of Annealing Temperature on Tribological Properties and Material Transfer Phenomena of CrN and CrAlN Coatings

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Abstract

This study evaluates the effects of annealing temperature and of the oxides produced during annealing processes on the tribological properties and material transfer behavior between the PVD CrN and CrAlN coatings and various counterface materials, i.e., ceramic alumina, steel, and aluminum. CrAlN coating has better thermal stability than CrN coating in terms of hardness degradation and oxidation resistance. When sliding against ceramic Al2O3 counterface, both CrN and CrAlN coatings present excellent wear resistance, even after annealing at 800 °C. The Cr-O compounds on the coating surface could serve as a lubricious layer and decrease the coefficient of friction of annealed coatings. When sliding against steel balls, severe material transfer and adhesive wear occurred on the CrN and CrAlN coatings annealed at 500 and 700 °C. However, for the CrAlN coating annealed at 800 °C, much less material sticking and only small amount of adhesive wear occurred, which is possibly due to the formation of a continuous Al-O layer on the coating outer layer. The sliding tests against aluminum balls indicate that both coatings are not suitable as the tool coatings for dry machining of aluminum alloys.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ12E01001), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51301153), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Linlin Wang

  2. Department of Mechanical Automotive, and Materials Engineering, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada

    X. Nie

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  1. Linlin Wang
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Correspondence to Linlin Wang.

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Wang, L., Nie, X. Effect of Annealing Temperature on Tribological Properties and Material Transfer Phenomena of CrN and CrAlN Coatings. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 23, 560–571 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-013-0748-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-013-0748-z

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