Increase of the load carrying capacity of aluminium 2024-T3 by means of a NiP-CRC-DLC coating

The present investigation has been conducted in order to evaluate the tribological behavior of an AA2024-T3 aluminum alloy, coated with a NiP-CrC-DLC coating. The effect of NiP as intermediate layer was evaluated by carrying out calculations using ELASTICA © in order to determine its adequate thickness needed to avoid the plastic deformation of the substrate, ensuring then the integrity of the coating. To evaluate the efficiency of these calculations, a number of dry sliding wear tests were performed employing a ball-on-disk configuration, where alumina balls of 6 mm in diameter were used as counterpart. The sliding wear tests were carried out up to a sliding distance of 800 m, with a normal load of 5 N, a linear speed of 5 cm/s and a contact radius of 3 mm. The wear tracks were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The wear volume was determined by means of optical profilometry. The results indicate that, under the present testing conditions, the NiP-CrC-DLC coating exhibits a satisfactory behavior from the mechanical stability point of view when the thickness of the NiP layer is higher than 60 µm, since no surface failures were observed at the end of the tests. For the coated system, the magnitude of the friction coefficient was found to be of approximately 0.1 and that of the wear rate was of about 2.31 ± 0.09 x 10-16 m3/N.m. On the contrary, for the uncoated substrate, the friction coefficient was of approximately 0.5 and the wear rate of 5.46 x 10-13 m3/N.m, that is to say, 3 orders of magnitude greater than that determined for the coated system