Tribological behavior of carbon nanofibers deposited on hard nanocomposite (nc-Ti1 − xAlxN)/(a-Si3N4) coating

Main focus was on the deposition of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) onto the hard nanocomposite (nc-Ti1 − xAlxN)/(a-Si3N4) (nACo®) coating surface and the investigation of the structure and tribological properties of CNFs. The alcohol chemical vapor deposition (ACCVD) method was employed to prepare CNFs and the deposition temperatures were 600 and 700 °C, respectively. Prior to the CNF deposition, Ni catalyst was deposited onto the nACo® surface using the magnetron sputtering. The influence of the deposition temperature on the carbon nanofibers structure was investigated by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The higher order degree of CNF structure is observed with increasing deposition temperature. Tribological tests were carried out under fretting contact conditions against Al2O3 ball. It is shown that the coefficient of friction (COF) decreases from 1.0 to 1.2 for the clean nACo® surface to 0.2-0.4 for the CNF layers deposited on the nACo® surface. The roughness of the nACo® surface was varied and a higher durability of the CNF layers deposited on the rougher nACo® surface is found.