Mechanical and tribological properties of Ti-containing carbon nanocomposite coatings deposited on TiAlV alloys

Abstract

Ti-doped carbon coatings were deposited on TiAlV alloys by reactive dc-magnetron sputtering in Ar/CH4 mixed gas. When Ar flow increases the incorporation of Ti into films raises while the concentration of C decreases. The formed nanometric TiC crystals were more noticeable for coatings deposited with higher Ar flows. Hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E) of coatings were measured by nanoindentation. H values were in the range of 8.8-15.9 GPa and E of 53.4-113.7 GPa. Higher values for H and E were obtained for films containing larger amount of TiC-phase. The presence of TiC crystals increased the coefficient of friction (COF) from 0.07 to 0.28 in scratch tests. Tribological experiments were carried out by using a pin-on-disk apparatus in air and in liquid. COF values ranged from 0.10 to 0.50 for tests in air. Despite of presenting higher COF, tests performed in liquid resulted in less pronounced wear tracks.