The role of mass transfer layer on the tribological characteristics of silver-coated surfaces

Wear map of silver coatings on AISI 52100 has been constructed to delineate the wear transition behavior with the change in operating conditions in various environments. Three main regimes were clearly identified: (i) elastic/plastic deformation of silver coating without failure. (ii) mild wear regime after initial failure of silver coating and (iii) severe wear regime. In the mild wear regime, the contact surfaces were covered with transfer layers of agglomerated wear particles. The transfer layer acted as a protective layer and resulted in low friction even after the initial failure of the coated films, whose characteristics were strongly dependent on both the operating and environmental conditions. Also, the existence of the critical sliding speed, above which no transfer layer was able to form, was discussed in the work.