Influence of the alloying elements on the tribological performance of DLC coatings in different sliding conditions

Reduction of friction and wear at the sliding surfaces are the main concern in several applications. From an extensive list of low friction hard coatings, DLC type is one of the most studied and develop for achieving low wear and friction. The addition of an alloying element is extensively used, since it can change significantly the coatings performance. Therefore, in this research the tribological behaviour of DLC coatings alloyed with different elements was evaluated, since no works comparing the tribological properties of DLC films with approximately the same alloying elements concentration are reported in the literature. The coatings were deposited by physical vapor deposition and alloyed with: tungsten (W), silver (Ag), silicon (Si), silicon and oxygen (SiO), with concentrations of metallic elements between 10 and 15 at. % and a pure DLC coating was also deposited for comparison purposes. The coatings hardness varied between 23 GPa for the pure DLC and 11 GPa for the alloyed with Si and O. The tribological behaviour of the coatings was evaluated by pin-on-disk against 10 mm 100Cr6 steel balls, at room temperature (RT) and 100 ◦C. The best wear resistance was achieved with the pure DLC and DLC-W for RT tests. At RT the lowest friction was obtained with the DLCSi and DLCSiO coatings. Despite of the low COF values, those coatings displayed the highest specific wear rate values among all the films. This is attributed to the presence of hard SiC particles stick at the ball counterpart which promotes severe abrasion of the coatings surface. The increase of the temperature to 100 ◦C increases significantly the friction coefficient for the DLC and DLC-W coatings, whilst, for DLC-Ag, DLC-Si and DLC-SiO coatings a slight decrease is noticed. At this temperature DLCAg coating is the more performing due to the formation of a tick tribolayer rich in Ag adhered at the counterpart surface. With this work it was concluded that friction and wear are not directly related, and the third bodies formed on the sliding surfaces have major influence on the tribological performance of the system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

TEM investigation of MoSeC films

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) are widely used as self-lubricating material either as oil additive or directly as thin films. Magnetron sputtering is a deposition method allowing depositing such films with high density and adhesion. However, their spread use in practical applications is still hindered since their excellent sliding properties are deteriorated in the presence of humidity and under high contact pressures. MoSe2, one of the members of TMD family recently studied, has been co-sputtered with carbon in order to improve the mechanical and tribological properties when compared to pure MoSe2 film

Electrochemical corrosion of magnetron sputtered WTiN-coated mild steels in a chloride medium

The electrochemical corrosion behaviour of WTiN coatings, of composition W 31, Ti 28 and N 40 at.% sputtered on carbon steel, chromium steel and high speed steel (HSS) has been investigated and the effect of the steel heat treatment on the steel/WTiN system performance explored. Open circuit potential measurements, polarisation curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used, together with X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy to characterise the corroded and uncorroded coating/substrate systems. It was found that the influence of the substrate on corrosion resistance follows the order Carbon Steel<HSS<Chromium Steel. The best performance of the chromium steel/WTiN system can be associated with the higher compactness of the protective coating, since there is strong evidence that it is inert so that electrolyte penetration through the coating defects and pores is responsible for the initiation of substrate corrosion. Heat treatment of the substrate has some influence on the corrosion of the HSS/coating system, suggesting that there may be one ideal steel treatment temperature for which the coating adhesion is higher.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TVV-473F2MV-S/1/91525d9a77234a2d57d1825d9d68d1b

FELINE: Finite element solver for hydrodynamic lubrication problems using the inexact Newton method

In this work we present FELINE, a C++ solver of the Reynolds equation for treating hydrodynamic lubrication problems. To correctly describe cavitation regions, FELINE implements the inexact Newton iteration (INE) algorithm within a finite element method (FEM) framework. The solver was tested and validated against known cases in literature and industrially relevant cases of dimpled textures. Furthermore, we provide a benchmark for a complex dimpled texture case to evaluate the performance and robustness of the implementation. FELINE performs very fast when compared with existing implementations and shows a great degree of stability, while providing physically correct solutions thanks to the INE algorithm.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020 project PTDC/EME-SIS/30446/2017 and Advanced Computing Project CPCA/A2/ 4513/2020, awarded by FCT I.P., for accessing MACC-BOB HPC resources

From Ti–Al- to Ti–Al–N-sputtered 2D materials

Abstract This paper reviews thin films constituted by elements based on the Ti–Al–N system, bearing in mind the role of the condensed phases in the development of structural components and functional devices. In recent decades, the Ti–Al, Ti–N and Al–N nanocrystalline binary systems have rapidly attracted research and industry interest. These systems have revealed a great performance via atomic-level structural control, making it possible to tailor new atomic structures and morphologies suitable in different applications as protective and hard coatings and as thermal/diffusion barriers. The binary phases based on nitrogen were the first to exhibit a wealth of interesting mechanical and electrochemical behaviours. However, more recently the Ti-Al and, particularly, the Ti1 - x Al x N thin films have been applied with success in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to compile the master results concerning the production and characterisation of binary and ternary thin films of the Ti–Al–N system using similar deposition strategies. These materials form a good base to analyse the correlation between the chemical composition and the atomic structure, the preferred orientations and the morphology of 2D monolithic materials. The deposition strategies adopted and the thin films’ chemical compositions determine the as-deposited structures and, consequently, the mechanical behaviour of the thin films produced, particularly the hardness. In general, an intermediary amorphous stage is observed, i.e., the thin films exhibit a loss of crystallinity in the transition from a saturated solid solution to a new compound

A deep learning approach to the texture optimization problem for friction control in lubricated contacts

The possibility to control friction through surface micro texturing could offer invaluable advantages in many fields, from wear and pollution reduction in the transportation industry to improved adhesion and grip. Unfortunately, the texture optimization problem is very hard to solve using traditional experimental and numerical methods, due to the complexity of the texture configuration space. In this work, we apply machine learning techniques to perform the texture optimization, by training a deep neural network to predict, with extremely high accuracy and speed, the Stribeck curve of a textured surface in lubricated contact. The deep neural network was used to completely resolve the mapping between textures and Stribeck curves, enabling a simple method to solve the texture optimization problem. This work demonstrates the potential of machine learning techniques in texture optimization for friction control in lubricated contacts

Electrical properties and thermistor behavior of TiAlN thin films deposited by combinatorial sputtering

A combinatorial deposition was performed by direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) to develop Ti1-xAlxN thin films with different Ti/Al ratios and investigate the electrical response to temperature. The crystal structure as a function of the x was studied by X-ray diffraction, and sheet resistance response was measured up to 200 ◦C. From x = 0.16 to x = 0.56, the film shows an fcc phase with Al in solid solution in the TiN matrix, whilst, from x ≥ 0.69, a mixture of hcp (AlN) and fcc phases is observed. A negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor behavior was found from x = 0.21 onwards, and a maximum sensitivity β of 1600 K was observed for x = 0.56 and 0.69. One fcc sample (x = 0.46) was selected to analyze the chemical states by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the impedance behavior with the temperature by electrical impedance spectroscopy. The crystal structure, bond states and impedance analysis were compared with an AlN thin film. It is concluded that the conduction mechanism for x = 0.46 is based upon electron hopping, and the effect of the grain boundary is more relevant than the grain at low temperatures. We demonstrate that it is possible to use TiAlN as an NTC-thermistor with different crystal structures and chemical compositions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Deep learning approach to the texture optimization problem for friction control in lubricated contacts

All the data used in this work is available free of charge from https://doi.org/10.34622/datarepositorium/MUVOJDThe possibility to control friction through surface microtexturing can offer invaluable advantages in many fields, from wear and pollution reduction in the transportation industry to improved adhesion and grip. Unfortunately, the texture optimization problem is very hard to solve using traditional experimental and numerical methods, due to the complexity of the texture configuration space. Here, we apply machine learning techniques to perform the texture optimization, by training a deep neural network to predict, with extremely high accuracy and speed, the Stribeck curve of a textured surface in lubricated contact. The deep neural network is used to completely resolve the mapping between textures and Stribeck curves, enabling a simple method to solve the texture optimization problem. This work demonstrates the potential of machine learning techniques in texture optimization for friction control in lubricated contacts.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, I.P.) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020, projects PTDC/EME-SIS/30446/2017, project POCI-01–0247-FEDER-045940, and Advanced Computing Project CPCA/A2/4513/2020 for accessing MACC-BOB HPC resources

Effect of Annealing Heat Treatment on the Composition, Morphology, Structure and Mechanical Properties of the W-S-N Coatings

Alloyed-transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) coatings have been under investigation as multi-environment lubricants for the past few decades. These coatings display very low coefficient of friction properties at elevated temperatures. Studies on the annealing of these low-friction coatings are missing in the literature. For the first time, in this study, the annealing of the W-S-N dry lubricant coatings was carried out to study its effects on the composition, morphology, crystal structure and hardness of the coatings. The W-S-N coatings were deposited by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering. The analysis was carried out for as-deposited, 200 °C and 400 °C annealed coatings. The as-deposited coatings have N content in the range of 0–25.5 at. %. The coatings are compact and the densification increased with the increase in N-alloying. All the coatings are crystalline except the highest N-alloyed coating which is X-ray amorphous. A maximum hardness of 8.0 GPa was measured for the coating alloyed with 23 at. % N. Annealing did not affect the composition and morphology of the coatings, while some variations were observed in their crystal structure and hardness. The maximum hardness increased from 8 GPa to 9.2 GPa after 400 °C annealing of the 23 at. % N-alloyed coating.This study is sponsored by FEDER National funds FCT under the projects: SMARTLUB ref.“POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031807”, CEMMPRE ref. “UIDB/00285/2020”, On-SURF ref. “POCI-01-0247-FEDER-024521”, “LA/P/0112/2020” and Atrito-0 ref. “POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030446”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vacuum Tribological Properties of W-S-N Coatings Synthesized by Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering

This work deals with the investigation of the tribological performance of DC magnetron sputteredW-S-N coatings under vacuum atmosphere, as part of the exploration of multi-environment sliding properties of W-S-N solid lubricants. This study is part of the systematic testing of W-S-N solid lubricants in different environments, especially vacuum, which is often ignored. The trend is to test sliding properties in dry N2 by considering it as replacement of vacuum environment testing. This approach is not appropriate. In this work, a set of coatings was synthesized with N-alloying content in the range of 0–25.5 at.%. A maximum S/W ratio of 1.47 was observed for the pure WSx coating. A maximum hardness of 8.0 GPa was observed for 23 at.% of N-alloying. The coating with the lowest N content (14.6 at.%) displayed the lowest friction, specific wear rate and wear scar depth under vacuum conditions. Despite superior sliding performance at room temperature (35% humidity), 200 C and dry nitrogen conditions, the performance of the WSN12.5 coating deteriorated vacuum environment.This work is sponsored by FEDER National funds FCT under the projects: SMARTLUB ref. “POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031807”, CEMMPRE ref. “UIDB/00285/2020”, On-SURF ref. “POCI-01-0247- FEDER-024521”, “LA/P/0112/2020” and Atrito-0 ref. “POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030446”. Andrey Bondarev acknowledges the support of the project “International Mobility of the scientific workers MSCAIF IV at Czech Technical University in Prague, Grant No: CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/20_079/0017983”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio