Mechanical and Thermal Damage of Hard Chromium Coatings on 416 Stainless Steel

Abstract

Hard chromium coating has a wide range of applications in automotive and aerospace industries. However, the open literature lacks a comprehensive study on the failure of hard chromium coatings. This research focuses on the mechanical and the thermal damage of hard chromium coatings on 416 stainless steel. Mechanical damage of hard chromium coatings is first investigated as a function of coating thickness. Then, an investigation of thermal damage of the coating as a function of heat temperature was carried out. A novel method was developed in this research to analyze the strain field occurring in the stainless steel substrate due to spherical indentation.