SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES TECHNICAL REVIEW

Ti-B-N Coatings with Low Friction Coefficients Deposited by Arc Ion Plating

Yasuo TANNO, Takashi KUROSAWA, Seiji NISHIZAWA and Akira AZUSHIMA

In order to reduce coefficients of friction of TiN coatings for the industrial machine application，the frictional property of TiN coatings with preferred grain orientations deposited by arc ion plating (AIP) was investigated. It is possible to control the preferred grain orientations of TiN coatings by changing a substrate bias voltage. In a ball-on-disc friction test，the coefficients of friction of TiN coatings with (111) preferred grain orientation were lower (about 0.2) than those (0.5 to 0.8) of TiN coatings with (200) preferred grain orientation. In this study，the frictional property of TiN coatings embedded boron (Ti-B-N coatings) with preferred grain orientation by AIP process was investigated. The coefficients of friction of Ti-B-N coatings with (111) preferred grain orientation were measured by the ball-on-disc friction tester. It was found that Ti-B-N coatings with (111) preferred grain orientation were able to maintain low coefficients of friction (about 0.2) under severe sliding conditions in comparison with TiN coatings with (111) preferred grain orientation. The Ti-B-N coatings with low coefficients of friction have the possibility of application to sliding parts of machine under dry condition.