The study of the tribological properties under high contact pressure conditions of TiN, TiC and TiCN coatings deposited by the magnetron sputtering method on the AISI 304 stainless steel substrate

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Wear of TiCN coatings as an average of the maximum friction track depth after 100 cycles of movement

Material	Wear (μm)	Confidence interval
TiC	4.64	±0.58
TiN	3.05	±0.17
TiCN	5.65	±0.38

Surface roughness parameters (ISO 25178) of TiCN coatings and the steel substrate before and after friction tests

	Material	Average values of surface roughness parameters before friction tests
		Sa	Sq	Sz	Ssk	Sku	Sp	Sv
Coating	TiC	0.508	0.592	2.548	0.164	2.018	1.375	1.173
	TiN	0.278	0.327	1.946	0.027	2.151	0.763	1.183
	TiCN	0.251	0.309	2.317	−0.797	6.745	0.666	1.651
Substrate	AISI 304 steel	0.567	0.680	3.585	0.129	2.261	1.917	1.667

The average coefficient of friction for the tested coatings and the confidence intervals for the initial (Cycle 1–20) and final friction period (Cycle 90–100)

	Material	Coefficient of friction	Confidence interval	Coefficient of friction	Confidence interval
		Cycle: 1–20		Cycle: 90–100
Coatings	TiC	0.122	±0.003	0.143	±0.002
	TiN	0.165	±0.001	0.168	±0.001
	TiCN	0.145	±0.002	0.166	±0.002
Substrate	AISI 304 steel	0.139	±0.002	0.152	±0.002

The flow rate of the working gases during the deposition of TiCN coatings on the steel substrate

	Material	Flow rate (×10−3 m3/h)
		Ar	N2	C2H2
Coating	TiC	1.1	-	0.47
	TiN	1.1	0.45	-
	TiCN	1.35	0.225	0.225