The coatings deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique have found a wide industrial application as protective coatings for their attractive properties such as high hardness, good wear resistance and chemical stability. In order to explore the triboligical performances of CrSiN coatings, CrSiN coatings were prepared o the surface of 316 stainless steel by high power pulse magnetron sputtering (HPPMS) in this paper. Sliding wear tests of CrSiN coatings against Si3N4 ceramic balls and titanium balls have been carried out on a friction abrasion testing machine under reciprocating sliding conditions. nanoindentation and scratch tester, field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer (FESEM/EDS) and a X-ray diffractometer (XRD) was used to study the tribological behaviors of CrSiN coatings systematically. Results showed that CrSiN coatings exhibited good wear resistance, which can be attributed to the smoother and denser surface of CrSiN coatings resulted from much fewer macroparticles and pitting defects. The differences on wear debris removal behaviors and wear mechanism were caused by the different microstructure of CrSiN coatings.
