INCREASING WEAR RESISTANCE OF HEAVILY LOADED TRIBOSYSTEMS BY FORMING STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF THEIR CONTACT SURFACES

The article discusses the principles of material selection, technology of application and modification of metal friction surfaces using vacuum ion-plasma treatment of diamond-like coatings by physical methods. Based on quantum chemical calculations and using modern tools X-ray photoelectron and auger electron spectroscopy (XPS and OES), the energy of interatomic interactions at the boundaries of iron grains separated by atoms of various chemical elements was estimated. Using the methods of quantum chemistry, it is shown that when modeling the strength properties of nanocoatings deposited on the metal surface and consisting of atoms of elements Ti, Al, N, the influence of deep-lying layers of iron on the strength of the coating can be neglected. This effect is due to the strong shielding effect of the electronic subsystem of iron from external influences. The use of quantum chemistry methods in the work made it possible to study the effects that occur at the nanoscale and inaccessible for research using instrumentation. In particular, it was found that when carbon nanocoating is applied to the iron surface first, and then nanolayers of other elements, stratification can occur in the layer system, leading to a weakening of the overall strength of the coating. This stratification is caused by the redistribution of electron density between layers of different elements. The resulting weakening of strength may not manifest itself when measuring strength by standard methods. In this regard, when developing new types of nanocoatings on metals, along with standard methods, it is necessary to use theoretical (primarily quantum chemical) methods for assessing the strength of nanocoats. The approach considered in this paper can also be used in the development of criteria for the selection of chemical elements for modifying friction surfaces that contribute to increasing the wear resistance of heavily loaded tribosystems.

vacuum ion-plasma treatment of friction surfaces, physical (PVD) and chemical (DLC) methods of surface modification, quantum chemical calculations