Study on the friction characteristics of the metal with harder thin film

Friction characteristics of the metal plated with a harder thin film are examined experimentally and theoretically. Plated chromium films of several thicknesses are used as hard films. The base metal is SKD11 ( alloy steel). Experiments were done by pin-on-disk method without a lubricant. The friction velocity is kept constant a 74 mm/min. Normal loads of 10 to 1000 N are applied. The experimental results show that the depth of friction trace decreases as the chromium film thickness increases to 700 N of the normal load. Over 700 N of normal load, the depths of friction trace approximately coincide. The friction coefficient of chromium plated films decreases exponentially with the increase of normal Load. Theoretical analyses of the friction characteristics considering plowing, shearing and pile-up are carried out under three contact conditions : elastic-elastic, elastic-plastic and plastic-plastic, based on the theory of Tsukizoe & Sakamoto [1].