Preparation and tribological properties of TiO₂-ZrO₂ thin films

High oriented TiO₂-ZrO₂ thin films were prepared with sol-gel process followed by dip-coating the ethanol solution of zirconium oxychloride and titanium tetrachloride. The microstructure, morphology and tribological properties of TiO₂-ZrO₂ thin films were investigated using AFM, XPS, XRD and dynamic-static tribometer. The results show that the TiO₂-ZrO₂ films are dense, homogeneous and in a complete tetragonal phase; which display an excellent antiwar and friction reduction performance. Under 0.5 N applied load, the friction coefficient is only 0.14-0.20 and the antiwear life is more than 5000 sliding cycles for the TiO₂-ZrO₂/AISI 52100 steel and TiO₂/Si₃N₄ systems.