Due to the existence of complex residual stresses, the High-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) thermal sprayed WC-Co coating, as surface protection in many tribological applications (e.g., aircraft landing gear strut), tends to suffer early damage or failure during the friction process, which would seriously affect the safety and reliability of operation. The aim of this work is to determine the tribologically induced residual stresses of HVOF sprayed WC-17Co coating/substrate system, and thus to establish the relationship between the friction process and the residual stresses. It is proposed to use the time of flight (TOF) neutron strain scanner ENGIN-X for measurement, to determine a precise distribution of multi-scale residual stresses in a series of worn WC-17Co coating/substrate samples, which has experienced wear test with different tribological parameters.