Adhesive and tribocorrosive behavior of TiAlPtN/TiAlN/TiAl multilayers sputtered coatings over CoCrMo

Measurements of the adhesion of the coatings to the substrate were carried on by means of a scratch test using a tribometer. By taking micrographs of the produced tracks, the critical loads at which the coatings are fully separated from the substrate were determined. From these tests it was observed that a coating with 10 min of TiAlPtN in a TiAlPtN/TiAl period of 30 min in multilayers of 10 periods and with an average thickness of 145 nm for the TiAlPtN nanolayers had the best tribocorrosion resistance behavior, compared to that of the CoCrMo alloy. The RBS experiments showed a reduction of the thickness of the films along with some loss of the multilayer structure after the reciprocating motion. The adhesion tests indicated that the multilayer with the average TiAlPtN thickness of 145 nm displayed the highest critical load. These results indicate a high correlation between the adherence and the tribocorrosion behavior.