Effect of Heat‐Treatment and NiB–TiO2 Composite Coating on the Tribological Performance of AISI P20 Steel

American iron and steel institute (AISI) P20 steel, commonly used in plastic mold production, frequently faces significant wear challenges during service. Industries continually seek efficient and cost‐effective solutions to mitigate these issues. Herein, heat‐treatment and sol‐enhanced NiB–TiO2 coating are applied separately or in combination to exclusively assess the wear resistance improvement of as‐received P20 steel. To this end, wear tests are conducted under different loads using a pin‐on‐disk test, and the worn surfaces are evaluated through a laser scanning microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). In the findings, it is revealed that the heat treatment significantly enhances the wear resistance of AISI P20 steel, reducing the wear rate by almost half due to microstructure modification and surface hardening. In addition, NiB–TiO2 coating provides further enhancement of wear endurance. It seems to be sufficient to provide excellent wear resistance to steel since the wear rate decreases by approximately 61% and 65% when the coating is applied to the as‐received and heat‐treated P20, respectively. Based on SEM–EDS analysis, the wear mechanism of steel is similar for both steel conditions, involving abrasive wear and delamination. However, the NiB–TiO2 coating intensively modifies the wear mechanism of the steel, leading to a combination of abrasive, adhesive, and fatigue wear.