Deposition of AlCuFe and AlCuFeCr thin films on Ti6Al4V alloy and investigating microstructural and tribological characteristics

Ti–6Al–4V alloy has extensive use in different industries, including aerospace and automotive. Nevertheless, despite the excellent features of this alloy, it shows high susceptibility to the wear process, restricting its applications. This paper focused on sputtering the AlCuFe and AlCuFeCr thin films on Ti–6Al–4V alloy. After the deposition process, the annealing was carried out for 2 h at 700 °C under a protective atmosphere. The microstructural studies confirmed the formation of crack-free 5 and 4.5 μm-thick Al–Cu–Fe and Al–Cu–Fe–Cr coatings, respectively. A five-facet morphology appeared on the surface of the Al–Cu–Fe thin films, which is a sign of quasicrystal (QC) development. The average contact angle (CA) for the AlCuFe and AlCuFeCr thin films was 98 and 87°, respectively. CA results of thin films indicate their lower wettability compared to the substrate. The coefficient of friction (COF) of AlCuFe and AlCuFeCr thin films was measured to be about 0.15, which is much lower than the Ti–6Al–4V substrate. The AlCuFe and AlCuFeCr coatings showed much better wear resistance compared to the Ti–6Al–4V substrate.