Tribological and Micromechanical Properties of the Nanostructured Carbonitride/Nitride Coatings of Transition Metals Alloyed by Hf and Nb
Coatings 2023
Armands Leitāns, Ernests Jansons, Jānis Lungevičs, Kārlis Kundziņš, Irīna Boiko, Uldis Kanders, Vladimirs Kovaļenko, Oskars Liniņš

In this article, the fabrication, characterization, tribological performance, and micromechanical properties of nanostructured smart coatings (NSC) based on the multilayered alternating carbonitride/nitride bilayer {TiMe-CN/TiAlSi-N}n system are discussed. The symbol “Me” denotes refractory metals Hf or Nb, and the index “n” shows the number of superlattice periods. The NSC samples were deposited onto bearing steel (100Cr6) substrates using a reactive high-power physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique that can be scaled up for industrial use. The deposited multilayered NSC contained crystalline nanometer-scale TiMe-CN/TiAlSi-N nanoparticles strengthened by Hf or Nb additives, which increased surface microhardness up to 3000 HV. The measured steady-state friction coefficient (CoF) was within the 0.2–0.4 range, and a specific wear rate lower than 2 × 10−6 mm3/Nm was observed in the dry friction regime. The impact of NSC substrate hardness and NSC coating thickness on microhardness measurement values was investigated. A thicker coating provided a higher integrated (coating + substrate) microhardness value at a lower indentation test force (<0.3 N). As the indentation test force increased, the obtained microhardness values decreased faster for the coatings deposited on a softer substrate. The surface roughness impact on wear properties for specific NSC coatings was observed.


Keywords
carbonitride/nitride coatings; superlattice; micro-indentation; microhardness; tribological performance; wear; friction coefficient; surface texture
DOI
10.3390/coatings13030552
Hyperlink
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/13/3/552

Leitāns, A., Jansons, E., Lungevičs, J., Kundziņš, K., Boiko, I., Kanders, U., Kovaļenko, V., Liniņš, O. Tribological and Micromechanical Properties of the Nanostructured Carbonitride/Nitride Coatings of Transition Metals Alloyed by Hf and Nb. Coatings, 2023, Vol. 13, No. 3, Article number 552. e-ISSN 2079-6412. Available from: doi:10.3390/coatings13030552

Publication language
English (en)
The Scientific Library of the Riga Technical University.
E-mail: uzzinas@rtu.lv; Phone: +371 28399196