The initial evaluation of performance of hard anti-wear coatings deposited on metallic substrates: thickness, mechanical properties and adhesion measurements – a brief review

Abstract The demand for metallic materials of exceptional tribological performance is rapidly growing due to constant development of automotive, tool or implant industry. As great attention nowadays is being paid to the surfacemodified materials, there is a need of establishing reliable methods for evaluation of coated metallic alloys. In this paper, methods for thickness, adhesion and mechanical properties measurement of anti-wear coatings are considered. The importance of altering the mechanical properties of the coating with regards to its expected wear performance is also discussed. According to the numerous findings, it is reasonable to pay attention to the hardness and Young’s modulus of the developed coating, as well as on the mismatch between its Young’s modulus and the elastic modulus of the substrate material. Information provided in this paper has been thoroughly illustrated and enriched with our own experience in the field.