Dry Sliding Behavior of Sub-Micrometer-Sized Suspension Plasma Sprayed Ceramic Oxide Coatings

Almost half of the energy produced by an automotive engine is dissipated by friction in the cylinders, the clutch, etc. In the context of reduction of the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to mitigate climate global warming (CGW), reduction of energy losses due to friction is a critical issue. Surface treatments appear in such a context, as never than before, to be able to provide pertinent solutions to improve sliding behavior of mechanical parts. Numerous studies have clearly shown that decreasing the scale of coating structure below the micrometer scale was leading to an improvement of its tribological behavior in terms of friction coefficient and wear rate thanks to improved mechanical properties, the toughness in particular. Suspension Plasma Spraying (SPS) appears as a thermal spray process to be able to manufacture thick (i.e., a few tens of micrometers) coatings exhibiting a sub-micrometer-sized or even a nanometer-sized architecture, while keeping the versatility and flexibility of the thermal spray routes: i.e., the ability to process a wide range of material natures onto a wide range of substrate materials of various geometries. This article aims at studying the tribological behavior of several ceramic oxide composite coatings under dry conditions. The structural scale and the effect of composition are considered in particular.