High-temperature tribological properties of Si3N4/TiC ceramic with bionic surface textures and DLC coatings

Bionic shark-skin textures and DLC coatings were prepared on Si3N4/TiC ceramic. Sliding friction tests were performed against AISI 1045 steel ball on a ball-on-disk tribometer from 25 ℃ to 500 ℃ to evaluate the high-temperature tribological properties of Si3N4/TiC ceramic with a combination of shark-skin textures and DLC coatings (TC). Results showed that the TC sample achieved the lowest friction coefficient when the temperature was less than 300 °C, while as the temperature rose to 500 °C, the friction coefficient of all samples initially decreased and then increased, and that of the smooth sample (SS) was lower compared to the other samples (TS and TC) at the relatively steady stage. Finally, the mechanism was discussed.