Effects of the ratio of hardness to Young’s modulus on the friction and wear behavior of bilayer coatings

Abstract

We present a study of the effects of the ratio of hardness to Young’s modulus on the friction and wear behavior of layered composite coatings. Layered coating structures with the same surface coating but different interlayers were prepared by physical vapor deposition. We found that the ratio of hardness to Young’s modulus plays an important role in determining the friction coefficient and wear resistance of layered composite coatings. A low friction coefficient and high wear resistance can be achieved in structures with high ratio of hardness to Young’s modulus and moderately high hardness.