A STUDY OF THE TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF DUPLEX TREATMENT

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of duplex treatments on tribological behavior of a common used steel material. The carbide and carbonitride coatings are deposited by dual RF magnetron sputtering on carburized and carbonitrided 18CrMo4 steel substrates respectively. The low-pressure carburized and carbonitrided samples present 0.72 and 0.69 wt. % carbon content at their surface respectively and a hardness of about 720 HV0.1. Tribological tests were performed by a Pin-on-Disk rotative tribometer with Al2O3 and 100Cr6 balls. A comparison of the friction coefficient and the wear rate for each sample has been made. The adhesion of the coatings has been determined by analyzing the wear track by optical profilometry and microscopy. The best tribological performances were observed by combining carbides coatings and carburized 18CrMo4. In contrast, the TiWCN film completely delaminated.