Tribological Behavior and Mechanism of a Self-Lubricating Coating With Alternating Soft and Hard Phases Prepared Horizontally Along the Substrate Surface

Abstract

Abstract. Typically, self-lubricating coatings cannot concurrently exhibit the advantages of both soft coatings and hard coatings. To address this challenge and enhance coating performance, a novel structural coating was developed. This coating was fabricated by alternately depositing a soft layer and a hard layer in a horizontal arrangement on the substrate surface using electrospark deposition (ESD). The resulting coating exhibits excellent quality. The friction and wear behaviors of the coating were investigated under dry sliding conditions. The coating shows better comprehensive performance than a single graphite coating or a cemented carbide coating. Overall, the primary wear mechanism is identified as adhesive wear accompanied by abrasive wear. In brief, this innovative coating combines exceptional wear resistance with effective lubricity, exhibiting the comprehensive performance of both hard and soft coatings.