Dear Mostafa Kargar,

I suggest you to have a look at the following standards:

ISO 21874:2019 PVD multi-layer hard coatings — Composition, structure and properties

ISO 20808 Fine ceramics (advanced ceramics, advanced technical ceramics) — Determination of friction and wear characteristics of monolithic ceramics by ball-on-disc method.

Kind regards

Gedvidas Bikulcius

Dear Mostafa Kargar

I suggest you to use BET test.

Dear Professor Gedvidas Bikulcius

Thank you for reply,

you mean that we can use the test standards of PVD multi-layer and test standards of fine ceramics as standards of PVD nano coatings ( ~ 100-200 nm) too?

Dear Mostafa,

There are no standards for nanotribological coatings. You can read my publication where I compare all tribological standards for coatings at macro, micro, and nanoscale: "Tribological Testing and Standardization at the Micro- and Nanoscale", E. Broitman. I have also developped a method for that kind of films, but you need to have specialized microtribometers. You can get all my publications at Researchgate, or requested me the ones I cannot have online. Regards, Prof. E. Broitman.

We typically carried out a ball-on-disc test but our coatings were 1 - 3 micron in thickness, which are at least 10 times thicker than your coatings. We typically took a counter body, which finds application against that coating or took a standard counter body like alumina, silicon nitride or tungsten carbide balls. You may refer to some of our publications.

Article Effects of Deposition Conditions and Counter Bodies on the T...

Article Pulsed DC magnetron sputtered MoSx–TiN composite coating for...

Best Regards

There are no international standards for wear test of nano thin films.

Dear Mostafa Kargar,

Some varieties of the type "ball (pin) on disk (plate)" are the most often used to measure the wear rate of such coatings. Also, more exotic methods exist, including spraying with a very weak abrasive jet, using a simple calo tester, etc., but they are mainly used when there are a lack of specialized equipment. One uniform, official standard does not exist, although there are different standards, but they are rather just recommendations (by my opinion).

The truth is that if you take your samples and test them by one chosen method, but changing a little the conditions of the experiment (load, number of friction cycles, material of the counter-part, etc.), very likely you will get different results about the wear rate. Even, for example, if everything in the mode is the same, it is enough to have a difference in the trajectory (circle/line) and you could still get noticeable differences. In addition, your coatings are very thin and the testing will certainly grind the substrate - i.e., the results will be questionable (it is prudent to deposit thicker layers for the test). Also, the CAD method always, even after filtering, determines the presence of droplets in the coating. With very thin coatings and poor filtration (or lack thereof), the measured wear rate values will certainly be affected (some droplets may exceed the thickness of the coating in your case).

Otherwise, according to the purpose of your coatings, your thickness is probably quite sufficient. I have deposited decorative TiN coatings (probably even thinner than yours) by CAD (without filtration) on ceramic glazed tiles which are used in bathrooms, laundries, etc. - in huge quantities, mainly for companies from Spain and Italy. Their wear rate was not actually tested, but for 17-18 years they have not changed after installation (I gave few to a friend who installed them in his bathroom and is very happy with the result). I have used an adhesive Ti layer.