Tribological Behavior of Ceramic Ball/Nitride Coating Pairs: A Comparative Study Integrating Time‐Series Analysis, Interface Morphology Characterization, and Numerical Simulation

This study investigates the friction and wear mechanisms of CrN, AlCrN, TiN, and AlTiN coatings deposited on SUS316L stainless steel. The experiments are conducted under 50% humidity and a 5 N normal load, combining tribological tests with numerical simulation. The results show that the TiN coating paired with an Al 2 O 3 ball exhibits the lowest wear rate of 8.9 × 10 −4 mm 3 (N·m) −1 . In contrast, the AlCrN coating with ZrO 2 ball achieves the lowest coefficient of friction of 0.318. The dominant wear mechanism is determined by the coating material. Specifically, TiN shows slight adhesive and fatigue wear, AlTiN experiences abrasive wear, and AlCrN exhibits fatigue wear. Furthermore, oxidative wear occurs in all coatings, with the highest degree in AlTiN and the lowest in CrN and AlCrN. Numerical simulations corroborate these findings, indicating that the stress distribution patterns vary with different ball‐coating pairs and that the coating material is the primary factor influencing the stress distribution.