Cubic-structure Al-rich TiAlSiN thin films grown by hybrid high-power impulse magnetron co-sputtering with synchronized Al+ irradiationShow others and affiliations
2020 (English)In: Surface & Coatings Technology, ISSN 0257-8972, E-ISSN 1879-3347, Vol. 385, article id 125364Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Adding Si into transition-metal nitride hard coatings is known to enhance mechanical properties and oxidation resistance. At the same time, however, Si promotes precipitation of wurtzite-structure AlN in Ti1-xAlxN during deposition by magnetron sputtering or cathodic-arc-evaporation, resulting in a decrease in layer hardness. Here, we report nanocomposite films of metastable cubic NaCl-structure TiAlSiN deposited using a hybrid approach combining high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) from an Al target with DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS) from TiSi targets (Al-HiPIMS/TiSi-DCMS) in which a substrate bias is synchronized to the metal-rich portion of each HiPIMS pulse. The Al/(Al + Ti) ratio is varied from 0.26 to 0.77 by adjusting the TiSi target power, while the Si content ranges from 7.6 to 10.3 at.%. Cubic-structure TiAlSiN solid solutions are obtained with a maximum Al/(Al + Ti) atomic ratio of 0.59 and 9.4 at.% Si. Excess Si segregates to grain boundaries to form a SiNx-rich tissue phase. The hardness H and elastic modulus E of cubic TiAlSiN films increase from H = 19.4 +/- 1.7 and E = 322 +/- 12 for TiAlSiN layer with Al/(Al + Ti) = 0.26 to H = 37.3 +/- 1.3 and E = 388 +/- 12 GPa for TiAlSiN layer with Al/(Al + Ti) = 0.59. The TiAlSiN films also exhibit a low intrinsic stress (-0.55 to 0.62 GPa), resulting in a combination of properties: superior hardness and low stress.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA , 2020. Vol. 385, article id 125364
Keywords [en]
TiAlSiN; HiPIMS; Al+ irradiation; Superior hardness; Low stress
National Category
Inorganic Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-165540DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2020.125364ISI: 000526980900025OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-165540DiVA, id: diva2:1428771
Note
Funding Agencies|Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation [KAW2016.0358]; Swedish Research Council VRSwedish Research Council [2018-03957]; VINNOVAVinnova [2018-04290]; Aforsk Foundation [16-359]; Carl Tryggers Stiftelse for Vetenskaplig Forskning [CTS 17:166]; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [51901048, 51875109]; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong ProvinceNational Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province [2018A030310546, 2019A1515012234]; VINN Excellence Center Functional Nanoscale Materials (FunMat-2) [2016-05156]
2020-05-062020-05-062021-12-28