Yang Zhongyi, Zhang Ning, Li Hongtao, Chen Bo, Yang Bo
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China.
Jiangyin Innovation Institute of Metal Materials Co., Ltd., Wuxi 214433, China.
Materials (Basel). 2023 Mar 28;16(7):2695. doi: 10.3390/ma16072695.
Electroplated hard chromium (EPHC) has been widely used in industry due to its excellent mechanical properties, but the development of this technology is limited by environmental risks. The physical vapor deposition (PVD) process has shown promise as an alternative to EPHC for producing chromium-based coatings. In this research, we investigate the microstructure and wear resistance of pure chromium coatings using two PVD techniques, namely, magnetron sputtering ion plating (MSIP) and micro-arc ion plating (MAIP), which are compared to EPHC. To assess wear resistance, we evaluated factors such as hardness, coating base bonding force, wear rate and friction coefficient via friction and wear experiments. The results show that, in terms of microstructure, while the EPHC coating does not exhibit a strong preferred growth orientation, the PVD coatings exhibit an obvious preferred growth orientation along the (110) direction. The average grain size of the EPHC coating is the smallest, and the PVD chromium coatings show a higher hardness than the EPHC coating. The results of pin-on-disk tests show that there is little difference in friction coefficients between EPHC and MAIP chromium plating; however, the MAIP chromium coating showed an excellent specific wear rate (as low as 1.477 × 10 m/Nm). The wear condition of the MAIP chromium coating is more stable than that of the EPHC coating, indicating its potential as a replacement for EPHC.
电镀硬铬（EPHC）因其优异的机械性能而在工业中得到广泛应用，但其技术发展受到环境风险的限制。物理气相沉积（PVD）工艺已显示出有望替代EPHC来制备铬基涂层。在本研究中，我们使用两种PVD技术，即磁控溅射离子镀（MSIP）和微弧离子镀（MAIP），研究纯铬涂层的微观结构和耐磨性，并与EPHC进行比较。为了评估耐磨性，我们通过摩擦磨损实验评估了硬度、涂层与基体结合力、磨损率和摩擦系数等因素。结果表明，在微观结构方面，EPHC涂层没有明显的择优生长取向，而PVD涂层沿（110）方向呈现明显的择优生长取向。EPHC涂层的平均晶粒尺寸最小，PVD铬涂层的硬度高于EPHC涂层。销盘试验结果表明，EPHC与MAIP镀铬之间的摩擦系数差异不大；然而，MAIP铬涂层显示出优异的比磨损率（低至1.477×10 m/Nm）。MAIP铬涂层的磨损状况比EPHC涂层更稳定，表明其有潜力替代EPHC。
