Dry Friction and Wear Characteristics of Some Reactive Elements-Doped Niobium Carbide Coatings

Abstract

In this work, the friction and wear properties of Cr, V, Ti and Mo doped-niobium carbide coatings were examined. The coatings were obtained by thermo-reactive deposition/diffusion (TRD) technique on AISI 4140 steel at 1000 degrees C for 2h. The dry sliding tests of the coated samples were carried out at 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 N loads and at a velocity of 0.1 m/s by a ball-on-disk tribometer with alumina ball as a counter material, in room conditions. The friction coefficient of the samples was compared with each other from friction coefficient-distance graphics. The wear rates were determined by measuring the depth of the track with a 3-dimensional profilometer. According to the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses, main wear mechanism for all samples is oxidative-polishing wear.