The Effect of Si Content on the Tribological Behaviors of Ti-Al-Si-N Coating Layers

Ti-Al-Si-N coating layers were deposited on WC-Co substrates by a hybrid system of arc ion plating and sputtering techniques. The coatings were prepared with different Si contents to investigate the effect of Si content on their mechanical properties and microstructures. The dry sliding wear experiments were conducted on Ti-Al-Si-N coated WC-Co discs at constant load, 3 N, and sliding speed, 0.1 m/s with two different counterpart materials such as steel ball and zirconia ball using a conventional ball-on-disc sliding wear apparatus. In the case of steel ball, the friction coefficient of Ti-Al-Si-N coating layers became lower than that of Ti-Al-N coating layers. The friction coefficient decreased with increasing of Si content due to adhesive wear behavior between coating layer and steel ball. On the contrary, in the case of zirconia ball, the friction coefficient increased with increasing of Si content, indicating that abrasive wear behavior was more dominant when the coating layers slid against zirconia ball.