LOAD INFLUENCE ON THE FRICTION AND WEAR BEHAVIOR OF ARC ION PLATED CR COATINGS

A Cr coating was fabricated on a CrNi3MoVA steel substrate using arc ion plating, and its friction and wear behavior was systematically investigated under loads of 3, 6 and 9 N. The results show that the load has a significant influence on the tribological properties of the Cr coating. With the increase in the load, both the friction coefficient and the wear rate of the Cr coating decrease, and the maximum equivalent stress of the rubbing zone firstly increases sharply and then decreases. A severe-to-mild adhesive wear transition takes place in the tribofilm area at the contact interface when a critical value is reached under the load of 9 N, accompanied by oxidation and hardening of the surface material of the Cr coating.