Tribological performance of 52,100 steel subjected to boron-doped DLC coating and ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification

• Published in: Wear 2020-10, Vol.458-459, p.203398, Article 203398
• Main Authors: Ren, Zhencheng, Chiang, Richard, Qin, Haifeng, Vasudevan, Vijay K., Doll, G.L., Dong, Yalin, Ye, Chang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bearing steels; Boron doping; Chromium steels; Diamond-like carbon; Diamond-like carbon films; Grain refinement; Magnetron sputtering; Nanocrystals; Physical vapor deposition; Plastic deformation; Protective coatings; Residual stresses; Sliding; Substrates; Surface treatment; Tribology; Ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification; Wear; Wear resistance
• ISSN: 0043-1648; 1873-2577
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wear.2020.203398

The tribological performance of AISI 52100 substrates subjected to several surface treatments have been evaluated in rolling, sliding, and mixed mode contact. The surface treatments include a boron-doped diamond-like carbon (B-DLC) coating deposited by plasma-assisted magnetron sputtering, an ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technique used to generate severe plastic deformation in the near surface of the steel specimens, and a B-DLC coating applied to a UNSM pretreated surface. In general, the tribological performance of the duplex surface treatment was superior to that of the untreated specimens and of the specimens with the other surface treatments in rolling, sliding, and mixed mode contact. The improved tribological performance of the duplex process was attributed to the combination of increased wear resistance provided by the B-DLC coating and the grain refinement of the martensitic structure of the AISI 52100 imparted by the UNSM process that created a beneficial substrate/coating interface. •UNSM treatment was carried out on the 52,100 substrates before B-DLC coating.•The reduction of hardness/modulus mismatch through UNSM resulted in higher adhesion between the substrate and the B-DLC coating.•B-DLC coating resulted in improved tribological performance in rolling, sliding and mixed mode contact.•The combination of UNSM treatment and B-DLC coating results in best rolling contact fatigue performance.•Grain refinement and compressive residual stresses contributed to rolling contact fatigue performance improvement.