Evaluation of crack initiation and fatigue behavior of CrN film deposited on Ti-6Al-4V alloy

摘要

Titanium alloy has an attractive strength-to-weight ratio and good fatigue properties. However, the titanium alloy has very poor wear resistance, therefore, surface treatments must be considered in order to make the contact parts. Hard thin film deposited by PVD technique is well-known to improve the wear resistance. In this study, chromium nitride (CrN) film was applied to titanium alloy and its effect on the fatigue behavior was investigated. Ti-6Al-4V alloy was used as a substrate material. The CrN film was deposited by arc ion plating (AIP) method at two different negative bias voltages because the film hardness, crystal orientation and surface morphology were strongly depended on the bias voltage during the deposition. Tension-tension fatigue test and tensile test were carried out to investigate the fatigue properties. As the result, the fatigue strength was influenced by the deposition of the CrN film, especially, the fatigue strength was remarkable decreased by the deposition of the CrN film at high negative bias voltage compared to the uncoated specimen and the deposition of the CrN at low negative bias voltage. The difference of the fatigue strength was also investigated on the basis of crack initiating behavior during fatigue test and tensile test.