Fretting wear behavior of Ti/TiN multilayer film on uranium surface under various displacement amplitudes

Ti/TiN multilayer film was deposited on uranium surface by arc ion plating technique to improve fretting wear behavior. The morphology, structure and element distribution of the film were measured by scanning electric microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Fretting wear tests of uranium and Ti/TiN multilayer film were carried out using pin-on-disc configuration. The fretting tests of uranium and Ti/TiN multilayer film were carried out under normal load of 20 N and various displacement amplitudes ranging from 5 to 100 mu m. With the increase of the displacement amplitude, the fretting changed from partial slip regime (PSR) to slip regime (SR). The coefficient of friction (COF) increased with the increase of displacement amplitude. The results indicated that the displacement amplitude had a strong effect on fretting wear behavior of the film. The damage of the film was very slight when the displacement amplitude was below 20 mu m. The observations indicated that the delamination was the main wear mechanism of Ti/TiN multilayer film in PSR. The main wear mechanism of Ti/TiN multilayer film in SR was delamination and abrasive wear.