Abstract
A study on the surface morphology of sputtered TiAlN coatings is presented. The coatings were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering on tungsten carbide insert tools. The surface morphology was characterized by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and the surface roughness was indicated by RMS roughness value. It was observed that the TiAlN coating surface morphology was rough as the negative substrate bias and nitrogen flow rate are increased. The evolution of the sputtered TiAlN coatings surface morphology was due to the competition between particle diffusion and re-scattering effect during the sputtering process. At high negative substrate bias and nitrogen flow rate, the re-scattering effect was prominent, leading to the high roughness of the sputtered TiAlN coating surface.
Highlights
Surface properties of sputtered TiAlN thin film are critical properties that influence the coating application performance, such as wear-resistance [1]
The coating morphology change as the coating crystal is growth, and it can be controlled during the sputtering process, such as bias voltage and nitrogen flow rate [3,9,10]
The coating surface morphology was characterized by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) with Veeco Dimension V scanning probe microscopy technique in which the images were obtained from 25 μm2 top areas of the coating surface
Summary
Surface properties of sputtered TiAlN thin film (coating) are critical properties that influence the coating application performance, such as wear-resistance [1]. The surface morphology of the sputtered TiAlN coating relates to other properties such as crystal structure and composition [6,7,8]. The coating morphology change as the coating crystal is growth, and it can be controlled during the sputtering process, such as bias voltage and nitrogen flow rate [3,9,10]. The study in controlling sputtered TiAlN coating surface morphology during the sputtering process is required to optimize the coatings application performance. The influence of substrate bias and nitrogen gas flow rate on the surface morphology of sputtered TiAlN coatings are discussed
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