The Wear Features of a Plasma Thin-Film Coating on High-Speed Steel

In this paper, we studied the wear of a plasma thin-film coating (PTFC) of the Si–O–N–C system deposited on high-speed steel of the W6Mo5Cr4V2 type. The tests were performed using a friction machine according to the “disk-indenter” scheme under dry friction conditions by the adhesive and abrasive wear mechanism. A steel indenter was used to simulate adhesive wear and a corundum indenter was employed to simulate abrasive wear. The positive effect of the coating on the wear resistance of the sample surface was established. The obtained positive effect has been shown to be achieved as a result of a combination of four factors: high coating hardness, phase hardening of the base material, reduction of surface roughness, and partial prevention of adhesion bonding of contacting bodies. Within the depth of the material hardening zone formed upon the PTFC deposition, the wear resistance of W6Mo5Cr4V2 steel was shown to increase by 3.2 times when paired with a steel indenter and 2.4 times when paired with a corundum indenter. We concluded that a PTFC thickness of 0.8–1 μm is sufficient to increase the wear resistance of high-speed steel products and to provide an acceptable level of coating adhesion.