Adhesive Behaviors of the Aluminum Alloy-Based CrN and TiN Coating Films for Ocean Plant

In the present study, TiN and CrN films were coated by arc ion plating equipment onto aluminum alloy substrate, A2024. The film thickness was about 4.65 ${\mu}m$. TiN and CrN films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray equipments. The Young's modulus and the micro-Vickers hardness of aluminum substrate were modified by the ceramic film coatings. The difference in Young's modulus between substrate and coating film would affect on the wear resistance. The critical load, Lc, was 75.8 N for TiN and 85.5 N for CrN. It indicated from the observation of optical micrographs for TiN and CrN films that lots of cracks widely propagated toward the both sides of scratch track in the early stage of MODE I. TiN film began to delaminate completely at MODE II stage. The substrate was finally glittered at MODE III stage. For CrN film, a few crack can be observed at MODE I stage. The delamination of film was not still occurred at MODE II and then was happened at MODE III. This agrees with critical load measurement which the adhesive strength was greater for CrN film than for TiN film. Consequently, it was difficult for CrN to delaminate because the adhesive strength was excellent against Al substrate. The wear process, which the film adheres and the ball transfers, could be enhanced because of the increase in loading. The wear weight of ball was less for CrN than for TiN. This means that the wear damage of ball was greater for TiN than for CrN film. It is also obvious that it was difficult to delaminate because the CrN coating film has high toughness. The coefficient of friction was less for CrN coating film than for TiN film.