Design of Anti-frictional Ceramic-Based Composite Coatings

High-performance anti-friction coatings are applicable for various applications. The main complications in fabricating such coatings are acquiring desired properties such as low coefficient of friction and high wear resistance while maintaining structural integrity and cohesion. Most state-of-the-art commercial coatings cannot endure severe conditions for extended periods resulting in stunted efficiency and an unsafe environment. In this work, we designed high-performance anti-friction coatings which incorporate ingredients that display robustness and high structural cohesion. An effective and economical method was established that could synthesize the coating consisting of high-temperature ceramics such as BN and SiC; friction modifiers were hybridizing graphite and α-zirconium phosphate. The analysis showed that the coatings exhibited exceptional lubrication performance at room temperature. The coating was annealed at 300 °C and was stable under a wide temperature range of 37-300 °C. The lowest average coefficients of friction for our coated steel sample were 0.107 and 0.169 in air and seawater, respectively. Compared to the coefficient of friction values of a blank non-coated steel sample, reductions of 76.22% in air and 45.48% in seawater percentages were achieved. This work will advance future coating designs with enhanced properties for a wide range of tribological applications including anti-friction coating applications.