Tribological behavior of different films on Ti-6Al-4V alloy prepared by plasma-based ion implantation

The tribological behaviors of TiN coating and TiN+TiC+Ti(C, N)/diamond like carbon (DLC), TiN/DLC, TiC/DLC multilayers on Ti 6Al 4V alloy prepared by plasma based ion implantation (PBII) were compared. Under the test conditions of counterbody AISI 52100, load 1 N and speed 0.05 m/s, the tribological properties of the alloy are improved by these films in the order of TiN, TiC/DLC, TiN/DLC and TiN+TiC+Ti(C,N)/DLC. Tribological behavior is affected by the conditions of surface modification and triboexperiments. The appearance of “peaks” in the wear dynamic resistance profiles may be due or correspond to the process of formation and breaking apart of transition films. The breakthrough of the DLC coated samples may start from partially wearing out, and end with joining piece dilamination. There are transition films on all counterbodies AISI 52100. When AISI 52100 counterbody is changed to Ti 6Al 4V, the wear of most modified samples is changed from only disc to both disc and ball abrasive dominated.