Fretting wear properties of plasma-sprayed Ti3SiC2 coatings with oxidative crack-healing feature.

The present research describes a study to explore the possibility to improve the wear resistance by healing microcracks that initiated under fretting wear. To this aim Ti 3 SiC 2 coatings prepared at different plasma powers (33 and 34 kW) were investigated comparatively under fretting. The results showed that the amount of Ti 3 SiC 2 phases was higher at the lower plasma power, leading to a major difference on fretting wear properties. Coatings with a higher content of Ti 3 SiC 2 phases exhibited a remarkable decrease in the friction coefficient and an enhancement in the wear resistance. The enhanced wear resistance was mainly attributed to the healed cracks by selective oxidation of Ti 3 SiC 2 . The reduced friction coefficient was strongly related to the formation of tribo-induced oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]