On the correlations between mechanical properties, oxidation behaviors and high temperature wear resistance of AlCrSiTiN coatings: A combinatorial study

Pinpointing the critical influencing factors of the high temperature tribological properties has always been the critical issues for hard protective coatings used in high temperature applications. The synergistic effect of simultaneous chemical attack and mechanical damage to the coatings would make it difficult to predict the performance and the durability of the protective coatings. In this study, a systematical investigation of the effect of chemical composition on the mechanical properties, oxidation resistance, and high temperature tribological properties is conducted through combinatorial approach for AlCrSiTiN coatings. It is found that in addition to the properties of the coatings, the whole system of wearing counterpart/coating/substrate plays a vital role in the high temperature tribological behaviors. However, a general observation of the inferior high temperature wear resistance for the coatings with poor mechanical properties and oxidation resistance still holds. Overall, this study provides a general guideline for designing protective hard coatings with superior high temperature tribological properties.