Assessment of tribological properties of low friction thin layers produced by vacuum methods

Low friction thin layers are an excellent alternative for conventional coatings. They provide increased life of the elements, to which they were applied, due to enhancing the hardness or chemical and electrochemical resistance. They help to avoid the cracks, oxidation, as well as possible structural changes during the element’s work. However, they primarily improve tribological properties by increasing wear resistance and reducing the friction. This also applies to components operating under variable conditions such as load, speed, temperature. The presented article analyzes the properties of various low-friction thin layers deposited by vacuum methods on the steel substrates. DLC, TiC, MoS2, CrCN thin layers were chosen, as they achieve the lowest possible coefficient of friction. In the framework of this work the measurements of adhesion of the investigated layers to the substrate as well as the friction coefficient, chemical analysis, microstructure and topographic analysis of the low-friction layers were carried out.