Nanohardness and wear behaviour of AISI 1040 steel coated with Ti-6Al-4V 4B4C by magnetron sputtering

The Ti-6Al-4V-4B4C composite coatings have been deposited on AISI 1040 steel substrates by magnetron sputtering.The composition, structure, and topography of the coated surface have been explained by SEM, XRD, FT-IR and AFM. Theconstant coating thicknesses of 80 nm and 115 nm obtained for 0.5 h and 1h coating time, respectively. Wear tests have beenconducted on the coated AISI 1040 steel substrates by using ball-on-disc apparatus under 2N and 3N loads at roomtemperature. The Ti-6Al-4V-4B4C coating has shown an excellent wear rate with a lower coefficient of friction. The nanohardnessand elastic modulus of the AISI 1040 steel coated with Ti-6Al-4V-4B4C has been attained by the AFM nanoindentation technique that showed the maximum value of 10.7 GPa and 206.4 GPa, respectively. Ti-6Al-4V-4B4Ccomposite coatings have displayed to lowest wear rates among all loading conditions, hence signifying that it could be apromising alternative to other hard coatings.