Diamantähnliche Kohlenstoffschichten (DLC) zeichnen sich durch ein sehr günstiges Reibungs- und Verschleißverhalten aus. Auf vielen Werkzeugen und hochbelasteten Bauteilen ist DLC daher bereits erfolgreich im Einsatz. In naher Zukunft wird die Bedeutung dieser Schichten als Oberflächenschutz in tribologischen Systemen weiter ansteigen.
Wie viele Applikationsbeispiele zeigen, ist die Leistungsfähigkeit von DLC als Schicht zur Verringerung von Reibung und Verschleiß zwar groß, weist aber auch Grenzen auf. Vor allem bei höheren Temperaturen (> 300 °C) treten Strukturveränderungen oder sogar Oxidationsvorgänge auf, die auch die tribologischen Eigenschaften der Schichten verschlechtern können.
Reibungs- und Verschleißuntersuchungen (Schwingungsverschleiß) von DLC-Schichten wurden im Temperaturbereich von 25 °C bis 250 °C durchgeführt und zeigen ein schnelleres Durchreiben der Schicht bei höheren Temperaturen. Die Lebensdauer der Schichten wird mit zunehmender Prüftemperatur reduziert. Einsatzgrenzen für DLC-Schichten können abgeleitet werden.
High-power piezo-electric motors with power densities of 1.4 kW/kg display a potential for substituting hydraulic actuators. For this application, two novel tribometers of the same type have been designed using commercially available components for sliding motion at 40 kHz with amplitudes between 2.5 µm and 5 µm. The tribometers are equipped with means to measure amplitude, frequency, power required to keep the samples in motion and load applied. The effective motion between the two contacting bodies is monitored in each of the tribometers. These data are used to evaluate the coefficient of friction. The wear rate was determined after the tests. The set-ups were tested using well-known 100Cr6H (AISI 52100) samples before investigating novel, non-commercial substrates such as AlFeCrTi-alloys and tungsten carbide-based coatings as well as Magnéli-type coatings (Tin-2Cr2O2n-1 and TinO2n-1). This paper presents the principle of the ultra-high frequency tribometers and first tribological quantities of materials and coatings tested up to and above 1011 cycles. Very low wear rates in the range 10-8 mm³/Nm down to 10-10 mm³/Nm were determined under dry oscillation in air.
An extended study on tribological properties of carbon nitride coatings under oscillating sliding conditions has been carried out. The coatings were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering with graphite target using nitrogen as reactive gas in an argon/nitrogen atmosphere during the deposition process to deposit carbon nitride, CNx. Coating thickness was about 2 µm. A 200300 nm thick Ti interlayer was used to enhance adhesion. The nitrogen flow during the deposition was varied to control the amount of nitrogen in the coating. Maximum amount of N-content was about 28 at%, achieved at a maximum N2 flow rate. Other deposition parameters were target to substrate distance, substrate temperature during deposition and bias voltage. The results show a large variation of hardness depending mainly on the nitrogen content and bias voltage. Higher bias voltage produced harder coatings as did lower nitrogen content. The tribological properties were tested unlubricated and lubricated by paraffin oil under gross slip fretting conditions at room temperature against alumina as counter material. Most coatings, but not all, showed a more or less pronounced dependence of wear on relative humidity with wear rates from 10-5 to 10-6 mm3/Nm. The best coatings with regard to a low wear rate and the least dependence upon relative humidity were carbon nitride coatings deposited at elevated substrate temperatures up to 350 °C. The wear resistance of these coatings was increased under the most severe conditions by about one order of magnitude. The results are discussed on the basis of a transfer layer formation. The results show clearly that wear is not significantly correlated to the coating hardness which itself is strongly dependant on the nitrogen content. However, under lubricated conditions with paraffin oil, wear rates were generally very low with wear coefficients at about 10-8 mm3/Nm.
Different fretting tests of thin steel wires under different conditions (loads, strokes, number of cycles and mean pressures) were performed. The wires used had 0.45 mm in diameter and the material was a cold-drawn eutectoid carbon steel (0.8% C) with a tensile strength over 2800 MPa. The tests were carried out with 90° "crossed cylinders" configuration varying the stroke, normal load and testing time (number of cycles). Afterwards the volumetric wear was obtained using surface profilometry with diamond stylus.
With a classical study of the coefficient of wear with respect to the sliding distance, the results show that the wear coefficient increases with normal load and stroke, consequently, for the same sliding distance, the wear produced was higher when the load and/or stroke is increased. In this work, the coefficient of wear is decreasing continuously as the test is running. In order to analyze better the wear behaviour, another method, in which the volumetric wear is compared with respect to the Archard's loading factor, is proposed. As result of this method, two distinctive behaviours were detected; one corresponds to the running-in period with a more aggressive wear behaviour and the second one to the stable steady state period. In all the tests the running-in period was similar with regard to the wear rates but in the stable period the wear rates were increasing with higher loads or strokes.
A novel tribometer has been designed using commercially available components for sliding motion at 40kHz with amplitude between 2.5 and 5µm. The tribometer is equipped with means to measure amplitude, frequency, power required to keep the sample in motion and load applied. The effective motion between the two contacting bodies is monitored. These data are used to evaluate the coefficient of friction. The wear rate was determined after the tests. The set-up was tested using novel, non-commercial substrates such as AlFeCrTi-alloys and tungsten carbide-based coatings as well as Magnéli-type coatings (Tin-2Cr2O2n-1 and TinO2n-1). This paper presents the principle of the ultra-high frequency tribometer and first tribological quantities of materials and coatings tested.
Three different contact geometries, ball on disk and two different settings with crossed cylinders have been investigated with regard to the agreement of the results of the tribological quantities determined by each method. The material combination was α-alumina as upper specimen and steel 100Cr6 as lower specimen. For each of the contact geometries 5 independent measurements were carried out and evaluated independently. The agreement between the single results of coefficient of friction and the coefficient of system wear as well as between the different groups and conditions are good. Largest scatter of the results were found in the dry air regime where both friction and wear depend strongly on the relative humidity. However, comparison of the absolute values of the coefficient of wear between the ball on disk contact geometry on one side and the 2 crossed cylinder contact geometries on the other side reveals a significant difference in that the ball on disk results are lower by about a factor of two. The results document also a high degree of repeatability of single wear tests.
The influence of temperature and counterbody material on the tribological properties of a-C:H coatings deposited on Cronidur 30 steel has been investigated in a lubricated ball on disk contact situation. The results show, that the wear volumes of the system increase exponentially with increasing temperature. Two different wear mechanisms seem to have a major influence: First, the abrasive action due to materials hardness and second, the tribooxidation when silicon nitride is counter material.