Tribological investigation of chromium nitride coatings against stainless steel at elevated temperature

Abstract

Chromium nitride coatings (CrN) are comprehensively utilized in medical fields because of their excellent wear properties as well as mechanical properties. The erosion properties of CrN coatings are better than other coatings. In this article, our main objective is to analyse the wear mechanisms and microstructure of nitride coated 316L steel at elevated temperature. Here, the stainless steel was coated by a hard Chromium Nitride using Cathodic Arc Deposition (CAD) technique. The wear test of coated surface was conducted with help of Pin on disc tribo meter at various loading conditions. During the wear test, the maximum number of debris produced due to oxidation peeling of the coatings were compacted to form a thick transfer film, resulting in badly adhesive wear. The wear mechanisms were adhesive and oxidation wear accompanied with abrasive wear at elevated temperature (400 °C).