EFFECT OF SUBLAYER ON THE STRUCTURES AND TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF GLC COATING ON Al–BASED ALLOY
SHI Huiying, LONG Yanni, JIANG Bailing, CHEN Dichun
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048
Cite this article:
SHI Huiying LONG Yanni JIANG Bailing CHEN Dichun. EFFECT OF SUBLAYER ON THE STRUCTURES AND TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF GLC COATING ON Al–BASED ALLOY. Acta Metall Sin, 2012, 48(8): 983-988.
Abstract Graphite–like carbon (GLC) film is a kind of antifriction coating. Cr/Cr–C/GLC and Al/Al–Cr–C/GLC composite coatings were prepared by using an unbalanced magnetron sputtering system on Al–based alloy, where Al and Cr layer are the sublayers, Cr–C and Al–Cr–C are the transition layers. As a comparation, the GLC coating without sublayer was also deposited on the substrate. The microstructure, binding force and tribological properties of as–deposited coatings were studied. The results show that the Cr sublayer shows a columnar growth structure, while the columnar grain is not found in the Cr–C transition layer which has a gradient composition distribution. There is a good combining interface between Al sublayer and Al–based alloy substrate. Al–Cr–C transition layer has a gradient composition distribution also. GLC layers based on different sublayers and transition layers have amorphous structures. Compared with GLC coating without sublayer, the binding forces of Cr/Cr–C/GLC and Al/Al–Cr–C/GLC composite coatings are obviously higher, and the Al/Al–Cr–C/GLC composite coating has the maximum critical load. Under different loading conditions, the friction coefficients of both Cr/Cr–C/GLC and Al/Al–Cr–C/GLC composite coatings are low and similar to each other.
