Influence of silver content on the tribomechanical behavior on Ag-TiCN bioactive coatings

► Correlations between phase composition, microstructure and tribomechanical properties. ► Optimized tribological behavior of Ag-TiCN is found to be for [Ag] up to 6.3 at.%. ► Increasing Ag/Ti above 0.4 the films soften and reduce the wear resistance. ► The cytotoxicity of the coatings is inferior to 10% for Ag contents up to 20 at.%.