Microabrasion of Coatings Investigated by the Inclined Impact Test at Various Loads under Dry and Lubricated Conditions

The impact test has clearly emerged as an important technology for the prediction of cohesive, adhesive, and fatigue failure of coatings, further enabling the establishment of Smith and Woehler diagrams of PVD films. In the present paper, the abrasive wear of a well-adherent (Ti46Al54)N coating was investigated by the inclined impact test, at impact loads higher, equal to or lower than the fatigue critical impact load of the applied film. These investigations were conducted for few thousands up to several millions of impacts both under dry and lubricated conditions. The obtained results suggest that the inclined impact test is a very efficient method for detecting coating resistance against impact microabrasion, with or without lubrication and according to the test conditions for the synchronous contribution of fatigue phenomena to the film wear.