• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.743-750
• /
• 2023

Aluminum alloy is a material widely used in the aircraft industry. However, since it has relatively low hardness, strength and tribological properties, it is necessary to improve these properties. In this paper, a TiN thin film was coated on the surface of AL7075-T7351 using DC magnetron sputtering. The coating was performed by setting different deposition pressure, deposition time, and applied power. Then, the tribological properties of the thin film were investigated. As a result of the experiment, the hardness of the thin film was higher than that of the base material, and the specimen with the highest hardness had excellent friction coefficient, wear amount, and adhesive strength characteristics. Through this study, it was confirmed that the tribological characteristics of aluminum alloy can be improved by depositing thin films using DC magnetron sputtering.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.199-204
• /
• 2014

Various heat-treated and surface coating methods are used to mitigate abrasion in sliding machine parts. The most cost effective of these methods involves hard coatings such as diamond-like carbon (DLC). DLC has various advantages, including a high level of hardness, low coefficient of friction, and low wear rate. In practice, a supporting layer is generally inserted between the DLC layer and the steel substrate to improve the load carrying capacity. In this study, an indentation and sliding contact problem involving a small, hard, spherical particle and a DLC-coated steel surface is modeled and analyzed using a nonlinear finite element code, MARC, to investigate the influence of the supporting layer thickness on the coating characteristics and the related coating failure mechanisms. The results show that the amount of plastic deformation and the maximum principal stress decrease with an increase in the supporting layer thickness. However, the probability of the high tensile stress within the coating layer causing a crack is greatly increased. Therefore, in the case of DLC coating with a supporting layer, fatigue wear can be another important cause of coating layer failure, together with the generally well-known abrasive wear.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.366-371
• /
• 2013

Various heat treatment and surface coating methods have been applied to machine parts. Nowadays, diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are widely used because of their excellent tribological characteristics. Despite the numerous studies on DLC-coated engineering surfaces, the exact wear mechanisms related to the coating thickness and elastic modulus have not been fully examined. In this study, a sliding contact problem between a small spherical hard particle and a DLC-coated steel surface is analyzed using a nonlinear finite element code, MARC. The maximum principal stress distributions and deformed surfaces are compared for different coating thicknesses and Young's modulus values. Plastically deformed surface shapes such as a groove and torus indicate that the most dominant wear mechanism for a DLC-coated surface is abrasive wear. Fatigue wear can also play a role in a case where the coating thickness is relatively large and the elastic modulus is high.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.283-288
• /
• 2012

In this study, a new sliding contact problem involving an elastomeric seal, a spherical particle and a hard coated steel counterface was modeled to investigate the detailed wear mechanisms related to the sealing surface. The model was also used to design the optimum coating conditions. A three-dimensional finite element contact problem was modeled and analyzed using the nonlinear finite element code, MARC. The deformed steel surface and stress distributions are presented for different coating layers and thicknesses. When the coating thickness is relatively small, the entrapped particle produces surface plastic deformations such as groove and torus. In addition, the sealing surface can be damaged by abrasive wear as well as fatigue wear. For a relatively thick and multi-layered coating, on the other hand, surface plastic deformation does not occur, and the amount of abrasive and fatigue wear is reduced. Therefore, the proposed contact model and results can be used in the design of various sealing systems, further intensive studies are required.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.225-230
• /
• 2009

Seals are very useful machine components in protection of leakage of lubricant or working fluid, and incoming of debris from outside. Various elastomer are widely used as sealing materials and the shaft surfaces are generally coated with high hardness material after heat treatment. It is generally known that the foreign debris and wear particles get stuck into sealing surface, the steel shaft surface can be damaged and worn by mainly abrasive wear. In this paper, using MARC, contact analysis are conducted to show the hard coated steel shaft surface can be fatigue failed by very small elastic particle intervened between seal and steel surface. Variations of contact and von-Mises stress distributions and contact half-widths with interference and coating thickness are presented. The maximum von-Mises stress occurs always in the coating layer or between coated layer/substrate interface. Therefore the coated sealing surface can be fatigued and then failed by very small particles. The results can be used in design of sealing surface and further studies are required.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.284-291
• /
• 2018

Ball-milling for reactant powders in advance and using an induction heating system for Ni-Al intermetallic coating process are known to enhance the reactivity of combustion synthesis. In this work, the effects of the charging weight ratio of ball to powder in ball-milling for reactant Ni-Al powders and the synthesizing temperature in induction heating on sliding wear behavior of the coating layers are investigated. Sliding wear behavior of the coating layers is examined against a tool steel using a pin-on-disc type sliding wear machine. As results, wear of the coating layer ball-milled without ball was severely worn out at the sliding speed of 2m/s, regardless of the synthesizing temperature in induction heating. However, the wear rate of the coating layers at the sliding speed was remarkably decreased with increasing the charging weight ratio of ball in ball-milling for reactant powders. This can be explained by the fact that the void in the coating layer is disappeared and the coating layer is densified by the ball-milling. The evidence showed that pitting damages were disappeared on the worn surface of ball-milled coating layer. Consequentially, the Ni-Al intermetallic coating layer could have better wear resistance at all sliding speed ranges with the ball-milling for reactant powders in advance.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.318-324
• /
• 2018

This study aims to visualize the friction and wear behaviors of metal coatings in real time. The main mechanism of wear is identified by observing all the processes in which wear occurs. The friction coefficients of the moments are monitored to confirm the relationship between the friction and wear characteristics of the coating. Thin Ag coatings, which are several hundred nanometers in thickness, are prepared by depositing Ag atoms on silicon substrates through a sputtering method. A pin-on-disk-type tribo-tester is installed inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to evaluate the friction and wear characteristics of the Ag coating. A fine diamond pin is brought into contact with the Ag coating surface, and a load of 20 mN is applied. The contact pressure is calculated to be approximately 15 GPa. The moments of wear caused by the sliding motion are visualized, and the changes in the friction characteristics according to each step of wear generation are monitored. The Ag coating can be confirmed to exhibit a wear phenomenon by gradually peeling off the surface of the coating on observing the friction and wear characteristics of the coating in real time inside the SEM. This can be explained by a typical plowing-type wear mechanism.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.378-384
• /
• 2020

The friction surfaces of mechanical parts are heat-treated or coated with hard materials to minimize wear. Increasing the hardness is a very useful way to reduce abrasive wear. The general Brinell hardness test, which is widely used for metallic materials, is not suitable because it hardly shows any change in hardness when coated with thin films. In this study, we propose a basis for the application of the new Brinell hardness test method to the coated friction surface. An indentation analysis of the rigid sphere and elastic-perfectly plastic materials is performed using a commercial finite element analysis software. The results indicate that their loadto-diameter ratio is the same; the Brinell hardness test method can be applied even when the indenter diameter is on the micrometer scale. In the case of hard coating, it is difficult to calculate Brinell hardness using the diameter of the indentation, but the study revealed, for the first time, that it can be calculated using the depth of the indentation regardless of coating. The change in hardness owing to thin film coating over a wide load range implies that the hardness evaluation method is appropriate. Additional studies on various properties related to the substrate and coating material are required to apply the proposed method.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.54-61
• /
• 2021

The effect of the sand blasting before TiAlN coating in the manufacture of WC hard metal alloy tips have been studied. For four different tips, according to the status of processing of the sand blasting and the coating, residual stress measurement by X-ray diffraction and several tests for mechanical properties have been conducted. The results suggest that there was no difference in static mechanical properties, such as hardness, surface roughness and elastic modulus, between two coatings. Furthermore, compressive residual stress was generated equally on their surfaces. Additionally, the compressive residual stress in substrate WC was found to increase greatly when subjected to sand blasting treatment. However, the compressive residual stress decrease after coating regardless of sand blasting treatment. Nevertheless, it is confirmed that the compressive residual stress generated in the coating after sand blasting is less than that in the non-sandblasting coating. This was attributed to the plastic deformation occurring in the WC substrate during coating after sand blasting. In contrast to the scratch test results, sand blasting was assumed to have a negative effect on the adhesion between the coating and substrate. This is because there is a high possibility of microcracks due to plastic deformation in the WC substrate under the coating after sand blasting.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.335-341
• /
• 2006

This paper reports the wear characteristics of two types of coating materials, which are $Cr_2O_3$ and $ZrO_2$, by coated plasma thermal spray method. The wear test was carried out under air, grease, and bearing fluid conditions. The wear testing machine of a pin-on disk type were used to measure friction forces, friction coefficients and the weight losses of the coating specimens on the various sliding velocity and loading condition. The wear surface of specimens were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs.