Surface and Sliding Wear Behaviour of Different Coatings and Steels

Resumen

In this work, the sliding wear behaviour of the coatings TiN, CrN and WC/C applied on steel substrates was studied using a reciprocating wear test machine. All tests were carried out in dry conditions, at room temperature (20-23 ^°C and 45% - 50% relative humidity). The average sliding velocity was 0.08 m/s and an amplitude of 2 mm was used. The applied loads were 11.76 N (Po = 1.74 GPa) and 7.84 N (Po = 1.52 GPa). Optical microscopy was used to observe the characteristics of wear scars and spalls and possible causes of their formation. The variation of the friction coefficient against the number of cycles was obtained. This was used to determine more precisely the time (number of cycles) where the coating presented the first signs of wear, in addition Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) was performed, as well as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and hardness tests on the wear traces, which reinforced the previous observations. Thus it was possible to know the wear life of different coatings and possible causes of variation. Increasing the load was an important factor in the variation of wear life results. But it is also important to consider other factors such as surface roughness and thickness of coatings.