Micro-scale abrasive wear testing of duplex and non-duplex (single-layered) PVD (Ti,Al)N, TiN and Cr-N coatings

A micro-scale abrasive wear test, based on ball-cratering, has been used to evaluate the wear resistance of duplex and non-duplex (Ti,Al)N, TiN and Cr-N coatings. The term duplex is used here when plasma nitriding is followed by PVD coating. Coatings without the plasma nitriding stage are termed single-layered. Coating properties were evaluated by surface profilometry, hardness and scratch testing. All duplex coatings showed higher micro-abrasive wear resistance than their single-layered counterparts, with the duplex (Ti,Al)N coating achieving the best performance. After a certain number of ball revolutions, the coating material became worn through, exposing the substrate material. After this point, the presence of a hard nitrided case diminished the scratching action of the SiC abrasive particles. The experimental results also indicate that the choice of the PVD coating plays an important role in improving the micro-abrasive wear resistance. Apart from single-layered and duplex Cr-N coatings, all the other coating systems provided a higher micro-abrasive wear resistance than the uncoated substrate (hardened AISI H13 steel). The poor abrasive wear resistance recorded for the single-layered and duplex Cr-N coatings could be attributed to the hardness of the Cr-N being much lower than that of the SiC abrasive particles, which caused tearing of the coating with subsequent delamination. The wear pattern observed was found to change from surfaces characterised by grooves (uncoated substrate, single-layered TiN and Cr-N systems and duplex Cr-N system) to surfaces which exhibited multiply indented surfaces (single-layered and duplex (Ti,Al)N systems), indicating a transition between wear mechanisms. This transition was found to be dependent on the ratio between the hardness of the SiC abrasive particles and surface (coating) or subsurface hardness. By decreasing this ratio, the ability of the SiC abrasive particles to scratch the composite surface was reduced and the resistance to micro-scale abrasion was improved. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.