A Tribological Study of Electrodeposited Gold-Copper-Cadmium

摘要

The relationships between mechanical properties and tribological behavior of 14-, 18-, and 23-kt gold-copper-cadmium electrodeposited alloys were reported on. In order to obtain significant results, compositional homogeneity of the samples must be ensured: this was achieved by growing the alloys under controlled hydrodynamic conditions. Two tribological failure mechanisms were observed: at low loads the alloys fail by microcutting, at higher loads coatings tend to detach from the substrate. The former mechanism is typical for the bulk material, the latter one depends on the coating-substrate system. Material loss brought about by microcutting can be correlated with an Archard-type relationship corrected for toughness effects. Critical loads for coating detachment depend on deposit-substrate adhesion energy.