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To meet the demand for energy-efficient and, at the same time, durable, functional components, the improvement of tribological behavior is playing an increasingly important role. One approach to reducing friction in lubricated tribological systems is the microtexturing of the surfaces tailored to the application, but in most cases, this leads to increased manufacturing costs and thus often makes their use in industry more difficult. In this work, we, therefore, present an approach for an efficient design and fully integrated production process using a cam tappet as an example. For the used cam tappet contact, we first determined the optimal texture geometries using two differently complex EHL (elastohydrodynamic lubrication) simulation models. Based on these, textured tappets were manufactured in a combined manner using sheet-bulk metal-forming and deposition with a diamond-like-carbon (DLC) coating for additional wear protection without further post-processing of the coating. We show that the simulation approach used has a rather subordinate influence on the optimization result. The combined forming of components with textured surfaces is limited by the local material flow, the resulting texture distortion, and tool wear. However, a targeted process design can help to exploit the potential of single-stage forming. The applied DLC coating has good adhesion and can completely prevent wear in subsequent reciprocal pin-on-disc tests, while the friction in the run-in behavior is initially higher due to the soothing effects of the coating. The experiments also show a tendency for shallow textures to exhibit lower friction compared to deeper ones, which corresponds to the expectations from the simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the tribological performance of PVD–MoS2 coatings, which are frequently used as a solid lubricant for operating in challenging environments, e.g., in a vacuum, they can be modified with nitrogen. This work evaluates the tribological behavior and a possible compaction occurring during the initial tribological load in the rolling contact for pure and nitrogen-modified PVD–MoS2 coatings in a vacuum. Short-running tests (1000 cycles) of coated steel discs paired with uncoated steel discs made from 100Cr6 (1.3505, AISI 52100) were conducted on a two-disc tribometer. The slide-to-roll ratio of 10.5% was kept constant, while the load was varied in two steps from 1.1 GPa to 1.6 GPa. Subsequently, a comparison was made between the worn and the pristine coatings by means of nanoindentation and an optical analysis of the wear track. The formation of a load-bearing solid lubrication was achieved for both MoS2-variants. The main differences affected the material transfer and wear mechanisms. The worn coatings reached a similar wear coefficient of 4 × 10−6 mm3N−1m−1 and a possible compaction of the coatings was found, indicated through an increased indentation hardness (for MoS2 1158% and MoS2:N 96% at a 1.1 GPa load). The assumed tribological mechanism changed with nitrogen modification, but scales with increasing load. The nitrogen-modified MoS2 coating showed less compaction than pure MoS2, while the frictional behavior was improved by a 17% reduction of the coefficient of friction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depositing MoS2 coatings for industrial applications involves rotating the samples during the PVD magnetron sputtering process. Here, we show that a 3-fold substrate rotation, along a large target–substrate distance given by the deposition unit, introduces porosity inside the coatings. The mechanical properties and wear behavior strongly correlate with the degree of porosity, which, in turn, depends on the temperature and the rotational speed of the substrate. Ball-on-disk tests and nanoindentation wear experiments show a consistent change in tribological behavior; first, a compaction of the porous structure dominates, followed by wear of the compacted material. Compaction was the main contributor to the volume loss during the running-in process. Compared to a dense coating produced without substrate rotation, the initially porous coatings showed lower hardness and a distinct running-in behavior. Tribological lifetime experiments showed good lubrication performance after compaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]