Characterization of Tribolayers and Sliding wear at High Temperature between AlCrN Coated Tool Steels and Ultra-high Strength Boron Steels

High temperature wear of AlCrN coated tool steels sliding against the ultra-high strength boron steels used for hot press forming has been studied. The sliding wear tests have been carried out using a pin-on-disc of configuration under applied normal load of 50 N for 20 min with heating the ultra-high strength boron steels up to $800^{\circ}C$. Characterizations of tribolayers formed on the contacting surfaces between the tribopairs of the AlCrN coated tool steels and the ultra-high strength boron steels have been studied. It was found on the tribolayers of the AlCrN coated tool steels that microcracking and oxides containing Fe and Cr to increase friction coefficient were formed at the early stage of sliding wear, followed by the generation of the smeared oxide layers containing Fe transferred from the tribopair to decrease friction coefficient. This may mainly contribute to very low specific wear rate of the AlCrN coated tool steels sliding against the ultra-high strength boron steels, resulting from oxideoxide contact between the tribopair.