Abstract
Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings were deposited by multi-arc ion plating under different bias voltages. The influences of bias voltage on composition, microstructure, surface morphology and mechanical properties of Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings were investigated in detail. The HR-TEM, XRD, and XPS results confirmed the formation of nanocomposite structure of nanocrystalline of CrN embedded into the amorphous phase of Si3N4. The particle radius of CrN can be calculated from the half-width of the diffraction peak of CrN (200) and the value was about 20–60 nm. In addition, no diffraction peaks of CrSi2, Cr3Si, or Si3N4 were found in all the Cr–Si–N coatings. With the increasing of bias voltages from 0 to −200 V, the number and size of large droplets on the coating surface decreased, and the growth mode of the coatings changed from loose to dense. However, with the increasing of bias voltages from 0 to −200 V, the micro-hardness of the coatings increased and then decreased, reaching its maximum value at negative bias voltages of 100 V. It was found that the friction coefficient of Cr–Si–N coatings is almost the same except for the Cr–Si–N coatings deposited under bias voltage of 0 V. When the oxidation temperature was at 800 °C, the Cr–Si–N coating was only partially oxidized. However, with the increase of oxidation temperature to 1200 °C, the surface of the coating was completely covered by the oxide generated. The results showed that the bias voltages used in multi-arc ion plating had effects on the structure, mechanical, and high temperature oxidation resistance properties of Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings.
Highlights
Because of its excellent properties, such as excellent oxidation resistance at high temperature, higher hardness, and good corrosion resistance, CrN has become a potential protective material [1,2,3].CrN based coatings deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods, such as magnetron sputtering, multi-arc ion plating, and ion beam sputtering have been widely studied [4,5,6]
EPMA characterization of Cr–Si–N coatings prepared under different bias voltages was shown in Compared with Si, the Cr ions were easier to combine with N
When the bias voltage was increased from −50 to −200 V, the atomic percentages of Cr and Si contents were close to the atomic percentages of the targets
Summary
Because of its excellent properties, such as excellent oxidation resistance at high temperature, higher hardness, and good corrosion resistance, CrN has become a potential protective material [1,2,3]. In addition to maintaining the excellent high temperature oxidation resistance properties of CrN, the hardness, wear resistance and other mechanical. Too large or too small of bias will have a negative impact on the mechanical properties of the coatings. With the increase of substrate bias, the number of large particles on the surface and deposition rate of the coatings decreased, which was attributed to the ion bombardment and re-sputtering effects [15]. There are few studies reported about the relationship between hardness mechanism, high temperature elemental diffusion and oxidation resistance properties of Cr–Si–N coatings deposited under different bias voltages. The influence of bias voltages on the composition, structure, and high-temperature oxidation resistance mechanism of the Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings is explained
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