Process and properties of TiC0.7N0.3-based cermet coating deposition on steel by electrospark deposition technique

Electrospark deposition (ESD) method is a promising process to produce hard and wear-resistant coatings on metallic substrates. In this study, ESD has been successfully applied to deposit TiC0.7N0.3-based cermet coatings on steel substrate. It has been possible to obtain a fully dense and strong adherent coating layer with a thickness of 20 mu m. The microstructures of the deposited coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, the friction and wear properties of the coatings and substrates were investigated systematically by conducting ball-on-disc sliding wear tests. The experimental results demonstrate that the wear resistance of the steel substrate, which contains a TiCN coating deposited via the ESD process, is noticeably enhanced under the dry sliding wear conditions. In addition, while the microhardness of substrate is 232 HV on average, the microhardness of the coating reaches 870 HV onto the surface.