Influence of loading parameters on tribological behavior of TiN coating

Tribological behavior is one of the critical parameters of TiN films, which are widely used in low-speed gear, horological gear and etc. In this paper, the sliding tribological properties of TiN films prepared by multi-arc ion plating were investigated by ball-on-disk tester under conditions of low speed and load. Results indicate that the friction coefficient increases with the increasing normal load, while revolution per minute (rpm) and sliding radius influence the friction coefficient slightly. The running-in time becomes shorter with the increase of rpm and normal load, but the increasing sliding radius prolongs the running-in distance. The counterpart ball exhibits plowed wear and the wear volume increases with the increasing sliding radius.