Disquisition on material parameters and their influence on wear rates at high temperatures

The aim of this work is to find correlations of hard phase content and matrix type with hot hardness and wear rates in the cyclic impact abrasion test at high testing temperatures. Several materials with different matrix types and varying hard phase content have been investigated regarding their wear behaviour as well as their hot hardness up to 800°C. The hot hardness and hard phase content then was correlated to the wear rates using statistical methods. Materials with comparable matrix properties and higher hard phase content always have higher hot hardness and these parameters are statistically dependent so correlation of wear rate with hot hardness is statistically sufficient. It was found, that within the same material the wear rate is correlated to the hot hardness as long as there is no significant change in the wear mechanism. When the matrix of the material changes the hot hardness can not be directly correlated to the wear rate any more. It was also found that among all materials tested those with an austenitic matrix generally have higher wear resistance even if they have the same hot hardness

Temperature dependent friction and wear of magnetron sputtered coating TiAlN/VN

In this paper, a magnetron sputtered nano-structured multilayer coating TiAlN/VN, grown on hardened tool steel substrate, has been investigated in un-lubricated ball-on-disk sliding tests against an alumina counterface, to study the friction and wear behaviours at a broad range of testing temperatures from 25 to 700 ◦C, followed by comprehensive analysis of the worn samples using FEG-SEM, cross-sectional TEM, EDX, as well as micro/nano indentations. The experiment results indicated significant temperature dependent friction and wear properties of the coating investigated. Below 100 ◦C, the coating showed low friction coefficient at �≤0.6 and low wear rate in the scale of 10−17m3 N−1m−1 dominated by mild oxidation wear. From 100 to 200 ◦C, a progressive transition to higher friction coefficient occurred. After that, the coating exhibited high friction of �= 0.9 at temperatures between 200 and 400 ◦C, and simultaneously higher wear rates of (10−16 to 10−15) m3 N−1m−1. The associated wear mechanism changed to severe wear dominated by cracking and spalling. From 500 ◦C and so on, accelerated oxidation of the TiAlN/VN became the controlling process. This led first to the massive generation of oxide debris and maximum friction of �= 1.1 at 500 ◦C, and then to fast deterioration of the coating despite the lowest friction coefficient of �< 0.3 at 700 ◦C

A study on wear failure analysis of tungsten carbide hardfacing on carbon steel blade in a digester tank

This paper addresses wear failure analysis of tungsten carbide (WC) hardfacing on a carbon steel blade known as the continuous digester blade (CD blade). The CD blade was placed in a digester tank to mix ilmenite ore with sulphuric acid as part of a production process. Tungsten carbide hardfacing was applied on the CD blade to improve its wear resistance while the CD blade was exposed to an abrasive and acidic environment. Failure analysis was car-ried out on the hardfaced CD blade in order to improve its wear resistance and lifetime. A thickness and hardness comparison study was conducted on worn and unworn specimens from the CD blades. The carbide distribution along with elemental composition analysis of the hardfaced CD blade specimens was examined using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. The investigation revealed that an inconsistent hardfacing thickness was welded around the CD blade. Minimum coating thickness was found at the edges of the blade surfaces causing failure to the blades as the bare carbon steel blades were exposed to the mixed environment. The wear resistance of the CD blade can be improved by distributing the carbide uniformly on the hardfaced coating. Applying extra coating coverage at the critical edge will prevent the exposure of bare carbon steel blade, thus increasing the CD blade lifetime

Hybrid HIPIMS and DC magnetron sputtering deposition of TiN coatings: Deposition rate, structure and tribological properties

High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) has the advantage of ultra-dense plasma deposition environment although the resultant deposition rate is significantly low. By using a closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system, a hybrid process consisting of one HIPIMS powered magnetron and three DC magnetrons has been introduced in the reactive sputtering deposition of a TiN hard coating on a hardened steel substrate, to investigate the effect of HIPIMS incorporation on the deposition rate and on the microstructure and mechanical and tribological properties of the deposited coating. Various characterizations and tests have been applied in the study, including XRD, FEG-SEM, cross-sectional TEM, Knoop hardness, adhesion tests and unlubricated ball-on-disk tribo-tests. The results revealed that, both the DC magnetron and hybrid-sputtered TiN coatings exhibited dense columnar morphology, a single NaCl-type cubic crystalline phase with strong (220) texture, and good adhesion property. The two coatings showed similar dry sliding friction coefficient of 0.8 – 0.9 and comparable wear coefficient in the range of 1 – 2× 10-15 m3N-1m-1. The overall deposition rate of the hybrid sputtering, being 0.047 μm/min as measured in this study, was governed predominantly by the three DC magnetrons whereas the HIPIMS only made a marginal contribution. However, the incorporated HIPIMS has been found to lead to remarkable reduction of the compressive residual stress from -6.0 to -3.5 GPa and a slight increase in the coating hardness from 34.8 to 38.0 GPa

Rethinking Tribology–Tracking Trends, Their Presence at the ECOTRIB 2019 Conference, and Their Impact on Tribology Research in Austria

Economic and societal changes and technological development guide the focus of tribology research. &ldquo;Classical&rdquo; tasks, such as the improvement of materials or the tuning of a lubricant, have long been replaced by a function-oriented aggregate design, including specifications defined by needs arising from production and the environment. Tribology faces, among other remarkable changes, a paradigm shift according to the tendency to replace classic internal combustion engine (ICE) drivetrains with electric drives. How tribology will develop, and which research topics will prevail in the future, are being explored by several studies based on the experience of experts. The variety of contributions to journals and conferences provide an indicator of the importance of such tasks or topics. Here, a report on the ECOTRIB 2019&mdash;7th European Conference on Tribology held in Vienna, Austria, is presented. From the available information, an even stronger integration of other disciplines into tribology is noticeable, with certain hype in the fields of advanced material technology, sensor integration and the implementation of data science. Measures to rethink tribology from both an organizational and scientific point of view to cope with future tasks are being targeted and comprehensively implemented in the current research program &ldquo;InTribology&rdquo;, operated by the Austrian Center of Competence for Tribology (AC&sup2;T) in Wiener Neustadt, Austria