Improving wear resistance of magnesium alloy AZ91D by TiN-CrN multilayer coating

Applying a novel method of arc-glow plasma depositing, a 2μm-thick coating with 12 sub-layers of TiN and CrN was deposited alternately on the surface of magnesium alloy AZ91D to improve its wear resistance. The wear behavior was investigated by test of ball on disc sliding. The composition and microstructure of the coating were also analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and glow discharge spectrum (GDS), and the morphology of TiN-CrN film was surveyed through scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and atom force microscopy (AFM).The adhesion strength between film and matrix was evaluated by ways of stick-peeling test. The surface micro-hardness of the coating is above HK0.011 433, and the specific wear ratio of specimens coated with TiN-CrN films tested decreases greatly compared to that of the bare metal.