Study of the Tribological Behavior of NiCoCr Medium-entropy Alloy  Strengthened by N Ion Implantation
											  
												Author of the article: ZHURui1, ZHAI Haimin1,2, LI Wensheng2,3,4
												Author's Workplace:1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Nonferrous Metals, Lanzhou University of Technology,  Lanzhou 730050, China; 2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou  730050, China; 3. School of Metallurgical Enginning, Lanzhou Resources & Environment Voc-Tech University, Lanzhou  730015, China; 4. College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
												
												Key Words:NiCoCr medium-entropy alloy; N ion implantation; tribological behavior; wear mechanism
												
												Abstract:
	To enhance the tribological properties of an as-cast equiatomic NiCoCr medium-entropy alloy (MEA), surface
 modification was performed via nitrogen ion implantation. The influence mechanism of N-ion implantation on the wear
 resistance of NiCoCr MEAs was systematically investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD),
 and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicate that nitrogen ion implantation introduces the CrN phase
 into the NiCoCr MEA surface, significantly increasing its microhardness to 373.1 HV0.1 
(1.69 times greater than that of
 the as-cast alloy). Compared with the as-cast state, the modified alloy demonstrates substantially superior wear resistance,
 with a reduced wear volume of 6.79×10-2 mm3 when sliding against a ZrO2 
counterpart. The sliding frequency has a
 pronounced influence on the tribological behavior: the friction coefficient initially increases and then decreases with increasing
 frequency, whereas the wear rate has the opposite trend. In addition, wear mechanisms exhibit frequency dependence: at
 low frequencies (1 Hz), oxidative wear and adhesive wear dominate, accompanied by cracking and plastic deformation; at
 higher frequencies (2~5 Hz), abrasive wear prevails alongside oxidative wear and minor plastic deformation.