Abstract
This paper reports the results of an investigation of the oxidation of a sputter-deposited TiAlN hard coating in air at temperatures of 800 and 850 °C for times ranging from 15 min to 2 h. The study is focused on the role of growth defects in the oxidation process. The mechanism of oxidation at the site of the defect was studied on cross-sections made by the consecutive sectioning of oxidized coatings with the FIB technique. We found that in the early stage of oxidation, the locally intense oxidation always starts at such defects. Although the growth defects reduce the oxidation resistance of the coating locally, we believe that they do not have a decisive influence on the global oxidation resistance of the coating. There are several reasons for this. The first is that the surface area covered by growth defects is relatively low (less than 1%). Secondly, the coating is permeable only at those defects that extend through the entire coating thickness. Thirdly, the permeability at the rim of some defects strongly depends on the density of pores at the rim of defects and how open they are. The size and density of such pores depend on the shape and size of topographical irregularities on the substrate surface (e.g., seeds, pits), which are responsible for the formation of growth defects. We also found that oxidation of the TiAlN coating is accelerated by oxygen and titanium diffusion through the pores formed by crystal grain growth in the outer alumina overlayer. Such pores are formed due to the compressive stresses in the Ti-rich oxide layer, which are caused by the large difference in molar volumes between the oxide and nitride phases.
Highlights
Accepted: 18 January 2021The increasing application of high-speed, dry cutting technologies and the machining of difficult-to-cut workpiece materials demands that cutting tools be protected with high-performance PVD hard coatings
We found that oxidation of the TiAlN coating is accelerated by oxygen and titanium diffusion through the pores formed by crystal grain growth in the outer alumina overlayer
They were first heated to about 450 ◦ C, in-situ cleaned by radio frequency (RF) ion etching in argon atmosphere
Summary
The increasing application of high-speed, dry cutting technologies and the machining of difficult-to-cut workpiece materials (hard or “sticky”) demands that cutting tools be protected with high-performance PVD hard coatings. Due to the high friction between the tool surface and workpiece material during machining, the temperature at the tool’s cutting edge may reach more than 800 ◦ C. The protective coating must maintain a high wear resistance (high hardness), thermal stability, and oxidation resistance at the elevated temperatures. The development of hard coatings that meet such severe requirements with subsequent improvement in the cost-effectiveness of the machining process is still a big challenge. The superior performance of TiAlN-coated tools in the machining of difficult-to-cut workpiece materials (e.g., stainless steels, tool steels, Ni- and Ti-alloys) is attributed to its high hot hardness [1], high oxidation resistance, and age-hardening effect [2]. TiAlN is a supersaturated pseudo-binary alloy, where Al atoms randomly substitute Ti atoms on the metal sublattice of the fcc-TiN lattice
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