The tribological performance of laser surface treated CrZrSiN thin films

• We model two surface patterns that have different widths and depths.
• Hard CrZrSiN films were coated on laser surface textured substrates.
• We examine the wear behaviors of surface textured substrates with coating.
• Optimization of the pattern dimension is very important for the improved wear behaviors.
• Lubrication is necessary for the improved wear behaviors of the LST surfaces.

It has been reported that it is possible to significantly improve tribological properties by combining surface texturing and PVD hard coatings. In this study, as a part of a continuing effort to investigate the feasibility of combining laser surface texturing and a hard coating to improve tribological properties, hard CrZrSiN films were coated on laser surface textured substrates. The influence of the surface texturing with different pattern dimensions on the tribological behaviors of the laser surface textured CrZrSiN films were evaluated under both oil lubrication and dry conditions. Under the oil lubrication condition, CrZrSiN films with narrow texturing showed a five-fold reduction in the average coefficient of friction over the films without texturing. However, wide texturing resulted in a degrading of the tribological performance of the CrZrSiN films. This suggested that optimizing the dimensions of texturing on the substrate surfaces would be the critical factor in improving the tribological performance of laser surface treated substrates under an oil lubrication condition. Under the dry condition without oil lubrication, however, a negative effect of the laser surface texturing on the friction behavior of the CrZrSiN thin films was observed from the films with both types of pattern dimensions, suggesting that oil lubrication should be provided to improve the tribological performance of laser surfaced textured surfaces.

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