The Tribological Behavior of TiN/TiC CVD Coatings under Dry Sliding Conditions against Zirconia and Steel Counterparts

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article on the topic "The tribological behavior of TiN/TiC CVD coatings under dry sliding conditions against zirconia and steel counterparts" has novelty and useful practical application of the conducted research. In my opinion, the work can be published, but after major fixes:

1. The purpose of the research is insufficiently disclosed by the authors. It is necessary to add to the text criticism of the already conducted studies of the tribological characteristics of these materials. Moreover, the authors need to evaluate how critical it is for the industry?

2. Swap paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2 and add to the materials the company and country of the substrate manufacturer.

3. How did you register points on graphs with friction coefficient? How likely is the negative value of the COF? I would leave only positive values, at the most, leave zero values, although they are also unlikely in the physical sense.

4. Line 217: Delete the extra point.

5. Lines 234-235: The text is repeated, if the authors needed a reference to the figure, then it could be put in line 230.

6. Lines 290-294: Just the opposite.

7. Fig. 7: What is the reason for the small return of tribomaterial on the last meter of test?

8. Paragraph 3.4 should be completely rewritten as follows:

- remove the history of scratch testing;

- add to Fig. 9 graphs of dependence of COF on the distance;

- double-check the results, it is not obvious on SEM that coating A wins coating B, for the first one you can notice coarse edges along the track, hence the wear was destructive (with chipping), and coating B, in turn, was noticeably more resistant to indenter wear, i.e. his work was more efficient (more correct) (At the same time, I understand the conclusion of the authors, but it is presented as presented, and judging by the material presented, I would draw conclusions that are different than the authors);

- to supplement the evidence of your conclusions after the scratch test, you present in Fig. 9 scratches completely.

9. The conclusion of the manuscript requires specifics, not general conclusions, for example, in the last sentence, the authors' statement is already obvious and does not follow from the study. It is necessary to write about those points that were really influenced by the authors' research. Some of them have already been indicated, but it all looks rather meager for this work and requires expansion.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The article can be published after minor revision.

1-                 In the Introduction, mention the TRD, CVD, PVD, and PLD methods by which TiC/TiN coatings can be obtained and emphasize the advantages of CVD over these methods. In addition, the characteristic properties of TiC and TiN, such as stiffness-elastic modulus, stable up to which temperatures should be mentioned.

Balasubramanyam, N., Prasanthi, S. G., & Yugandhar, M. (2015). Study of coated TiN and TiC on cutting tools for the PVD and CVD coated tungsten carbide by sand blasting pretreatment of nickel and carbon. International journal of advanced science and technology, 75, 51-58.

Mohazzab, B. F., Jaleh, B., Fattah-alhosseini, A., Mahmoudi, F., & Momeni, A. (2020). Laser surface treatment of pure titanium: Microstructural analysis, wear properties, and corrosion behavior of titanium carbide coatings in Hank's physiological solution. Surfaces and Interfaces, 20, 100597.

Günen, A., Soylu, B., & Karakaş, Ö. (2022). Titanium carbide coating to improve surface characteristic, wear and corrosion resistance of spheroidal graphite cast irons. Surface and Coatings Technology, 437, 128280.

 

2-                 “The tribological behavior of materials given after Line 80 has been studied by many researchers using a variety of techniques, including ball-on-disc, ball-cratering, fretting, rubber-wheel abrasion, etc. [25-26]" sentence two sources are scarce for many researchers. Also, what are the differences between these wear methods compared to each other. Please state briefly. Reference 25 relates to Thermal spray coatings. I recommend including articles on the subject in the references.

Kurt, B., Günen, A., Kanca, Y., Koç, V., Gök, M. S., Kırar, E., & Askerov, K. (2018). Properties and tribologic behavior of titanium carbide coatings on AISI D2 steel deposited by thermoreactive diffusion. Jom, 70, 2650-2659.

Fouvry, S., Wendler, B., Liskiewicz, T., Dudek, M., & Kolodziejczyk, L. (2004). Fretting wear analysis of TiC/VC multilayered hard coatings: experiments and modelling approaches. Wear, 257(7-8), 641-653.

Oh, J. C., Lee, S., & Golkovski, M. G. (2001). Improvement of the hardness and wear resistance of (TiC, TiN)/Ti-6Al-4V surface-alloyed materials fabricated by high-energy electron-beam irradiation. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 32, 2995-3005.

 

3-      For the purposes of the study, the industrial applications in which this study is used should be mentioned by giving examples of TiC and TiN steel and zirconia counterparts applications.

4- In the Materials method section, sections 2.2 and 2.1 should be replaced.

5- Standard deviation should be added to the values in Table 2 and Table. Table 3 eror values can be given.

6- The friction coefficient values in Figure 3 do not seem very significant. If the data is given by taking the logarithmic average in the excel program, it will seem more meaningful. For example, there is no idea about the average friction coefficient values from the graphs.

7- The expression “zirconia ball is significantly lower than 268 that produced during testing with the steel honey” should be mentioned in the text with a quantitative value. The effect of this on friction or wear performance should be discussed. Because what is said is an expected and known result.

 

8- On the wear trace given in Figure 5, Ti, N whereas C increased. I do not agree on this point. Because the wear tests are carried out in an open air environment, oxygen will definitely be found on the surfaces. Therefore, these pictures should be looked at in the presence of O. In fact, the Glazed layer formed in TiC coatings should be evaluated in the literature.

9- Is there a standard for the applied Scratch test? Also, compare the obtained results with the literature.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

High level article. Thanks for the work.
From the comments:
- add to Fig. 3 in the name of the x-axis that meters are assumed with a multiplier of x100;
- Remove "LN" from the names of the axes (or these designations must be indicated in the text of the article).

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf