TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of annealing temperature on microstructure, hardness and adhesion properties of TiSixNy superhard coatings
AU - Lu, Y. H.
AU - Wang, J. P.
AU - Tao, S. L.
AU - Zhou, Z. F.
PY - 2011/5/15
Y1 - 2011/5/15
N2 - A series of TiSixNy superhard coatings with different Si contents were prepared on M42 steel substrates using two Ti and two Si targets by reactive magnetron sputtering at 500 °C. These samples were subsequently vacuum-annealed at 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 °C, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), microindenter, Rockwell hardness tester and scratch tester were applied to investigate the microstructure, phase configuration, hardness and adhesion properties of as-deposited and annealed samples. The results indicated that there were two bonds, TiN and Si3N4, in all presently deposited TiSi xNy thin films, that structure was nanocomposite of nanocrystalline (nc-) TiN embedded into amorphous Si3N4 matrices. Annealing treatment below 900 °C played a little role in microstructure and hardness of the coatings although it greatly affected those of steel substrates. The film-substrate adhesion strength was slightly increased, followed by an abrupt decrease with increasing annealing temperature. Its value got to the maximum at 600 °C. Annealing had little effect on the friction coefficient with its value varying in the range of 0.39-0.40. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
AB - A series of TiSixNy superhard coatings with different Si contents were prepared on M42 steel substrates using two Ti and two Si targets by reactive magnetron sputtering at 500 °C. These samples were subsequently vacuum-annealed at 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 °C, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), microindenter, Rockwell hardness tester and scratch tester were applied to investigate the microstructure, phase configuration, hardness and adhesion properties of as-deposited and annealed samples. The results indicated that there were two bonds, TiN and Si3N4, in all presently deposited TiSi xNy thin films, that structure was nanocomposite of nanocrystalline (nc-) TiN embedded into amorphous Si3N4 matrices. Annealing treatment below 900 °C played a little role in microstructure and hardness of the coatings although it greatly affected those of steel substrates. The film-substrate adhesion strength was slightly increased, followed by an abrupt decrease with increasing annealing temperature. Its value got to the maximum at 600 °C. Annealing had little effect on the friction coefficient with its value varying in the range of 0.39-0.40. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
KW - Adhesion
KW - Annealing treatment
KW - Microstructure
KW - Nanocomposite
KW - TiSixNy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79954577240&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-79954577240&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.01.128
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2011.01.128
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 257
SP - 6380
EP - 6386
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
IS - 15
ER -