Surface structuring of case hardened chain pins by cold-sprayed microparticles to modify friction and wear properties

This paper presents the results of the application of a cold spray technique for structuring metallic surfaces with microparticles. The resulting changes in surface properties were characterized to observe their influences on the tribological behavior of the structured surface. The spray technique was applied to a technical component, a 16MnCr5 steel chain pin, designed to be mounted in a linear reciprocating tribometer. TiO2 microparticles were used to structure the surface with a homogeneous distribution of singly dispersed particles, rather than a homogeneous closed coating on the surface. Tribometer tests were performed to directly compare structured and unstructured chain pins, and a significantly reduced sliding friction coefficient was observed for the structured pin. The pins were characterized in detail by surface analysis prior to and after application of the tribological load to set the surface parameters and surface chemistry, even on the microscale. It was confirmed that the particle structuring induced changes in the surface properties, and the durability of the changes after tribological loading was evaluated.