High-Temperature Tribological Performance of Hard Multilayer TiN-AlTiN/nACo-CrN/AlCrN-AlCrO-AlTiCrN Coating Deposited on WC-Co Substrate

Abstract

Mechanical and tribological properties of the hard-multilayer TiN-AlTiN/nACo-CrN/AlCrN-AlCrO-AlTiCrN coating deposited on WC-Co substrate were investigated. The sliding tests were carried out using ball-on-disc tribometer at room (25 °C) and high temperatures (600 and 800 °C) with Al2O3 balls as counterpart. Nano-scratch tests were performed at room temperature with a sphero-conical diamond indenter. The surface morphology and chemical composition were investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and in-situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD). The phase transition from fcc-(Al,Cr)2O3 into α-(Al,Cr)2O3 was observed at about 800 °C. The results of the tribological tests depends on the temperature, the lowest apparent and real wear volumes were observed on the coating after the test at 800 °C along with the smallest coefficient of friction (COF). The plastic deformation of the coating was confirmed in sliding and nano-scratch tests. The nano-scratch tests revealed the dependence of COF value on the temperature of the sliding tests.