Fretting Wear Resistance of Si(C, N) Coatings Deposited on the Surface of Dental Alloys

The aim of this study was to investigate the tribological behavior, protection efficiency, and wear degradation mechanisms of amorphous Si(C,N) coatings deposited on a Ni-Cr alloy substrate. Five different material variants were evaluated (samples B, C, D, E and F). Micro-tribological fretting tests were performed in three independent replications (n = 3). A single-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to evaluate the statistical significance of the volumetric wear differences at α = 0.05. Quantitative wear analysis revealed distinct physical trends among the samples, with coatings C and E demonstrating the highest resistance and highest adhesion (Ft~7 N), maintaining a wear volume below 100,000 µm3. Conversely, samples D and F exhibited delamination with a large material loss. The overall variations in mean wear volumes were not statistically significant (p = 0.178), reflecting a high intra-series data dispersion. Ultimately, the results indicate a strong trend related to their compositional structure, and specific variants (C and E) provide adequate tribological protection.