Test & evaluation of the wear behavior of magnesium alloy coated with TiN by arc-added glow plasma penetrating process

Magnesium is the lightest metallic structural material in actual utilization. With advantages of high strength/weight ratio, low elastic module, shock absorbing, abundant in resource, be able to recycle, et al., magnesium alloy will play a more important role in industries such as automotive, electronics, aerospace and others. But there are also some disadvantages in the application of this material. Especially, the poor wear behavior results in until yet the use of magnesium alloy is restricted to static components. In this study, magnesium alloy Az91 had been coated with RN by the method of arc-added glow plasma penetrating with the aim of improving its' anti-wear performance. This paper mainly summarized the testing and analyzing of the coating layer. The composition and microstructure of the coating layer had been analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and glow discharge spectrum (GDS), and the surface morphology of TiN film has been surveyed through scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The friction coefficient has been measured by ways of ball vs. disc rubbing. The results indicated that the coated layer were homogeneous, dense and robustly adhered. Also the coating of TiN effectively improved the performance of wear-resistance of AZ91.