Tribological properties of highly oriented Ti(C,N) deposited by chemical vapor deposition

Two Ti(C,N) coatings were tested by means of micro abrasion and scratch testing. The coatings differed in grain size, orientation (<111> and <111>, <311> and <211> respectively) and hardness (36 GPa and 23 GPa respectively). The <111> oriented coating had a 20% higher wear resistance compared to the reference coating when abraded with 1 μm diamonds. When abraded with 6 μm diamonds the abrasion resistance of the reference coating was superior compared to the <111> oriented coating by 36%. Furthermore, it was found that the <111> oriented coating had 35% better adhesion compared to the reference. The improved mechanical properties of the <111> oriented coating was attributed to a high degree of orientation and the higher hardness.