Abrasive wear resistance of TiN/NbN multi-layers: Measurement and neural network modelling

A recently developed micro-scale abrasion test which measures the wear resistance of surface regions of a material involves rotating a hard sphere against the specimen in a slurry of abrasive particles. The method can be applied to curved as well as plane surfaces of practical components. The wear resistance has been determined of a series of mono- and multi-layer PVD coatings (2-8 mu m thick) of TiN and NbN, which have also been characterised by micro-hardness tests and X-ray diffraction. The influence on wear resistance and hardness of interlayer thickness, interlayer mixing, deposition pressure, bias and the relative proportion of the two phases has been analysed by neural network modelling.