Micro and Macro-Tribology Behavior of a Hierarchical Architecture of a Multilayer TaN/Ta Hard Coating

The micro- and macro-tribological behaviors of a novel hierarchical TaN/Ta coating deposited on Ti6Al4V biomedical alloy by direct current magnetron sputtering were analyzed in the present work. This analysis was associated with the morphological, structural, and mechanical properties, as well as the roughness changes during and after the tribological tests. The wear track of the coating after the macro-tribology tests was evaluated by Raman spectroscopy in order to detect the compounds formed as a result of the tribo-reactions that occurred during the tests. Micro- and macro-tribology behaviors showed a significant wear rate reduction of the hierarchical coating in comparison to the Ti6Al4V substrate. For the case of the micro-tribology tests, this reduction was attributed to the high hardness of the coating (31.4 GPa); however, this hardness caused a considerable increment in the friction coefficient. On the other hand, the macro-tribology performance was associated with the hardness and the ability of the hierarchical architecture to prevent the propagation of cracks. Moreover, the friction coefficient increased considerably at the end of the test; this increment was associated with the tantalum oxides in the wear track detected by Raman spectroscopy.