IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
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Invited Paper TR-ThM1
Tribological Surface Engineering for Lubrication and Wear Resistance

Thursday, November 1, 2001, 8:20 am, Room 132

Session: Tribological Surface Engineering for Lubrication & Wear Resistance
Presenter: L.E. Seitzman, Caterpillar Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
Tribological Surface Engineering is the art of modifying a materials surface or near-surface by some means in order to achieve a desired friction or wear response of the material. One method available to surface engineers involves the application of metallurgical coatings, grown by one of several plasma-assisted vapor deposition processes. Such metallurgical coatings, usually only a few micrometers thick, have been used to improve the performance of cutting and forming tools and dies for many years. More recently, these coating have been successfully applied to mechanical components in order to extend life or to increase productivity of machines. The performance of the coatings depends on a number of factors, including chemistry, microstructure, surface texture and, of course, adhesion. We will illustrate some of these dependencies for coatings subjected to sliding. As a general rule, metallurgical coatings that provide the best friction reduction exhibit short wear life, and coatings with long wear life rarely reduce friction. The reason for this dichotomy and how it provides direction for the R&D community will be discussed.