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The influence of functionally graded TiN coating on fretting fatigue behavior of titanium alloy was investigated. The coating was deposited using an ion beam assisted deposition technique. TiN film was fabricated by an electron beam evaporation of titanium and simultaneous nitrogen ion bombardment. An acceleration voltage of ion beam was set at 0.2 or 2.0 keV. The functionally graded layer was fabricated by varying the mixing ratio of nitrogen/argon ion beam. The mixed layer became thicker by an increase in acceleration voltage. The adhesive strength and wear resistance were improved with an increase in the acceleration voltage. Moreover, they were significantly improved by inserting the functionally graded layer. The fretting fatigue tests were conducted using a four-point bending fatigue testing machine. The fretting fatigue life of specimen coated with monolayer TiN film was longer than that of uncoated specimen. The TiN coating with functionally graded layer was the most effective to improve the fretting fatigue life.

The fatigue tests were conducted for cold-drawn eutectoid steels having different activation energies and microstructures to investigate the mechanism of fatigue strength degradation by irreversible hydrogen. The fatigue strength of a sample with low activation energy was decreased by irreversible hydrogen, whereas the fatigue strength of a sample with high activation energy was not. When the activation energy for irreversible hydrogen becomes small, the desorption of irreversible hydrogen from its trap site is easily induced by cyclic loading, which results in a decrease in fatigue strength. When a sample having high activation energy was annealed at 473 K, the fatigue strength was decreased by irreversible hydrogen although the activation energy barely changed. This is because the precipitation of fine carbides due to annealing causes higher sensitivity to hydrogen embrittlement. High sensitivity to hydrogen embrittlement was concluded to induce the fatigue strength degradation by irreversible hydrogen. Therefore, the degradation of fatigue strength by irreversible hydrogen depends on the activation energy and sensitivity to hydrogen embrittlement.