COATING OF CR-V LEDEBURITIC TOOL STEEL WITH CrAgN

The Vanadis 6 tool steel has been coated with CrN, doped with small silver addition, by reactive magnetron sputtering. Some of coated specimens were subsequently vacuum annealed at 500 degrees C. The microstructure of film has been investigated on fracture surfaces of samples. Adhesion was evaluated by scratch-test. Wear resistance was measured using a pin-on-disc method, against alumina and 100Cr6 balls, at ambient and elevated temperatures. Experimental results have shown that the CrN-layers with an addition of 3%Ag have grown in a columnar manner. The addition of small amount of silver makes the adhesion on the substrate better. At an ambient temperature, no positive effect of the Ag-addition to the wear characteristics was found. But, in the testing temperature range 400 - 500 degrees C, significant lowering of friction coefficient and improvement of wear resistance were recorded. This can be attributed to the transport of Ag towards the surface, and thereby reduced friction force