Nano-Scale Fatigue Wear of Carbon Nitride Coatings: Part II—Wear Mechanisms

This is the second part of two companion papers, the first of which reported the empirical data on wear properties in carbon nitride coatings by a spherical diamond counter-face in repeated sliding contacts through in situ examination, with an emphasis on the effect of friction cycles and normal load. The second part will concentrate on wear mechanisms for the transition from “No observable wear particles” to “Wear particle generation.” The relationship between the critical number of friction cycles, Nc, and the representative plastic strain, $Δεp,$ at asperity contact region was confirmed to follow the Manson-Coffin equation with two empirical constants, β and C. The observed generation of wear particles in carbon nitride coatings is therefore concluded to be a low cycle fatigue wear by surface flow and surface delamination in the ploughing mode. For further predicting lifespan, a simplified theoretical expression, combining the Manson-Coffin equation with the analytical solution of a proposed elastic perfectly-plastic indentation model, gives the relation between the critical number of friction cycles, Nc, and the coating thickness h, with respect to the contact pressure P, and the radius R of the asperity on the tip of the diamond pin.