Structure and high temperature tribological behavior of TiAlN/nitride duplex treated coatings on Ti6Al4V

The duplex treatment of nitriding and TiAlN coatings was employed to improve the wear resistance of the Ti6Al4V alloy at higher temperature. Mechanical properties, microstructure and high temperature tribological behaviors were investigated by ball-on-disc wear test at elevated temperatures from 25 °C to 600 °C in atmosphere. The duplex treated sample exhibits a superior adhesion compared with only TiAlN coated sample due to a good load-carrying capacity. In addition, the duplex treated sample possesses excellent abrasion resistance at all temperatures. Particularly, the duplex treated sample has the lowest wear rate at 500 °C due to the formation of Al2O3 and TiO2.