Influence of Surface Modification Coatings on Friction Torque in Glycerin Environment

The tribological properties in glycerin environment of the surface coatings, including diamond-likecarbon(DLC),CrN and TiN thin films synthesized by DC unbalanced magnetron sputtering on substrates of p-type Si (111) and stainless steel, were experimentally investigated with scanning electron microscopy, CSM ball-disk friction/wear and Falex-6 multi-sample testers. The results show that the DLC, CrN and TiN coatings significantly improved the surface tribological behavior in glycerin environment. To be specific, the friction coefficients of the DLC, CrN and TiN coatings were less than 0. 1;and the wear-rates of the DLC and CrN coatings were relatively small. The friction torque of DLC-CrN coatings was the minimum under different contact stress, and no observable wear tracks existed, indicating that the DLC-CrN coatings were the optimal matching pair in glycerin environment.