EVALUATION OF COMPOSITE NI MATRIX COATINGS WITH CUBIC BN INTERSTITIALS ON TITANIUM APPLIED BY CATHODIC ARC EVAPORATION

In this paper we report on the experimental results on preparation and evaluation of cubic BN (c-BN) composite coatings with a nickel binder . Cathodic arc evaporated coatings were applied on titanium substrates . Deposition from a multicomponent plasma flow was conducted under arc currents of 85-110 A, a voltage of 100 V and partial pressure of nitr ogen of 0.25-0.7 mTorr. It was found that no titanium borides and nitr ides, chemical compounds between Ni and B, or hexagonal boron nitride formed in these conditions. The BN(111) X-ray peak was rather strong, which confirms the feasibility of formation of c-BN. Tribological prop erties were demonstrated to be better than for Ti(C,N) in the same tes ts conditions.