Investigating the structure and tribo-mechanical performance of PVD TiN on bearing TiN substrate constructed by rf plasma

Abstract Recent study was focused on conjoining rf plasma nitriding of titanium with TiN coating by rf plasma magnetron sputtering as a duplex treatment technique. To develop the tribo-mechanical characteristics and load bearing capacity of titanium substrate, rf plasma nitriding was engaged to predestine a bearing TiN layer on Ti base substrate. The PVD process was accomplished employing TiN target in argon plasma atmosphere. All PVD parameters were constant excluding the deposition time which was varied from 4 to 20 min with deposition rate of ∼60–65 nm/min. The effect of PVD TiN film thickness which was varied from 240 to 1300 nm on structure, tribo-mechanical and electrochemical performance of TiN/TiN duplex coatings was investigated. It was found, the duplex treatment expressively increased the PVD TiN/TiN coatings hardness (max: 2600 ± 47 HV0.025) and constricted the substrate plastic deformation. An enhancement in the adhesion in the duplex TiN/TiN samples compared to TiN/Ti was observed. Moreover, the wear, friction (reduced to nearly 0.2) and the corrosion performance were markedly upgraded for the duplex treated samples compared with pure Ti and PVD TiN/Ti.