Fe nano-particle coatings for high temperature wear resistance

Oxidational wear continues to present an economic challenge for the replacement of components subject to high temperature fretting and sliding contacts in applications such as gas turbine engines. At elevated temperatures, low friction oxide ‘glaze’ layers can form and act as an interface between the contact and the substrate material. Whilst desirable, the glaze is formed from wear debris and often consumes the underlying substrate material. In order to induce rapid formation of low friction oxide layers without a severe ‘running-in’ period, nano particles of Fe in the range 5–10 nm were deposited on ground flat ended pin and Plate 080M40 substrates using a terminated gas condensation PVD process, to a thickness of 600 nm. Coatings were tested in a reciprocating geometry at a fixed stroke length of 0.4 mm, frequency of 31 Hz and 40 N normal load (1 MPa contact stress) and at ambient, 300 °C and 540 °C. At ambient temperature the coated surfaces exhibited higher friction but lower wear compared to the uncoated substrates, whereas at elevated temperatures, the coated surfaces exhibited slightly lower steady state dynamic friction coefficients, and minimal changes in wear depth after a short incubation period. SEM of the worn surfaces indicated that hard oxide plateaus were responsible for the load bearing contact area at elevated temperatures. Cross sectional FIB, TEM and SIMS confirmed that at elevated temperatures, the nano-particle coating induced rapid formation of a nano-crystalline porous surface oxide film of mixed composition which protected the substrate from severe wear during the running-in period.