Wear-resistance and anti-scuffing of multi-arc ion plating molybdenum films

The multi-arc ion plating technology was employed to prepare the molybdenum films with thickness of 3 μm on the AISI 1045 steel. The wear and scuffing tests were carried out on the ball-on-disc tester. AFM and SEM equipped with EDS were adopted to observe and analyze the morphologies and element compositions of surface,cross-section and worn scar of the Mo film. The phase structure was studied by XRD and the bonding strength between Mo film and substrate was measured by scratching tester. The tribological experiments show that the Mo film possesses a good wear-resistance and an excellent anti-scuffing property. The failure mechanism of Mo film under extreme condition is flaking off.