Finite element analysis of the effect of interfacial roughness and adhesion strength on the local delamination of hard coating under sliding contact

The interfacial roughness and the adhesion strength are very important for making a high-quality coating for friction and wear applications. In order to obtain a quantitative understanding concerning the effect of the two factors on the local delamination of hard coatings, finite element analyses concerning the maximum shear stress in a hard coating with various kinds of interfacial roughness and adhesion strength were made under low and high frictional conditions. As a result, local delamination maps for the identification of the local delamination of hard coatings were obtained as a function of the shear strength ratio of coating to substrate and the ratio of coating thickness to half-contact width. Also, the critical contact pressure required to produce local delamination of hard coatings is given.