Friction and Wear Studies of Uncoated and TiZrN Coated Brass Substrates

Objectives: Investigation of enhancement in tribological properties of TiZrN coated brass substrate. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The magnetron sputtering was used to develop TiZrN coating on brass substrate by varying titanium (Ti) target power. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to do structural characterization of TiZrN coatings. Tribological properties of TiZrN coatings such as friction and wear were investigated by a pin on disc tribometer. Findings: The evolution of well intense (200) and (311) peaks of TiZrN coatings was observed with rise in power of titanium target. Increase of titanium power has a negligible effect on average crystallite size of TiZrN coatings and average crystallite size is around 4-5nm. TiZrN coatings are uniform, smooth and crack free as observed from SEM images for all samples. Tribological properties of TiZrN coatings were examined with testing parameters such as load and sliding distance. Application/Improvements: This coating may be useful for applications where low friction and wear is required such as gears, bearings, and electrical applications.