Tribological performance of titanium nitride coatings: A comparative study on TiN-coated stainless steel and titanium alloy

Abstract Though TiN coatings are considered a reliable anti-wear solution, the recent studies show that the anti-wear capacity of the TiN-coated metallic materials can be limited by various factors. Therefore, in our study, the CAE-PVD TiN film was deposited on two popular metallic materials: 316LVM stainless steel and Ti6Al4V alloy. The surface roughness, mechanical properties, adhesion as well as anti-wear performance in tribological pair with O6 mm WC-Co ball of both bare and surface modified specimens were evaluated. According to the findings, the elastic modulus mismatch between the coating and the substrate is one of the key factors that determine the operational durability of the TiN-coated alloys. Moreover, the well-established H / E and H 3 / E 2 quotients should be treated with caution when the wear performance of a coated material is assessed.