Friction and Wear Properties of Boron Carbide Coating under Various Relative Humidity

Friction and wear properties of the Boron carbide ($B_{4}C$) coating 100 nm thickness were studied under various relative humidity (RH). The boron carbide film was deposited on silicon substrate by DC magnetron sputtering method using $B_{4}C$ target with a mixture of Ar and methane ($CH_4$) as precursor gas. Friction tests were performed using a reciprocation type friction tester at ambient environment. Steel balls of 3 mm in diameter were used as counter-specimen. The results indicated that relative humidity strongly affected the tribological properties of boron carbide coating. Friction coefficient decreased from 0.42 to 0.09 as the relative humidity increased from $5\%$ to $85\%$. Confocal microscopy was used to observe worn surfaces of the coating and wear scars on steel balls after the tests. It showed that both the coating surface and the ball were significantly worn-out even though boron carbide is much harder than the steel. Moreover, at low humidity ($5\%$) the boron carbide showed poor wear resistance which resulted in the complete removal of coating layer, whereas at the medium and high humidity conditions, it was not. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analyses were performed to characterize the chemical composition of the worn surfaces. We suggest that tribochemical reactions occurred during sliding in moisture air to form boric acid on the worn surface of the coating. The boric acid and the tribochemcal layer that formed on steel ball resulted in low friction and wear of boron carbide coating.