Synergistic fractural features observed in Ti-B-Si-C hard coatings on enhancing the sharpness of nano indenters

Abstract

The multicomponent Ti-B-Si-C hard coatings consisting of different hard phases have varied uses in tool, heavy duty as well as microelectronic industries, The fractural features related to the toughness of Ti-B-Si-C coatings by pyramidal indenters of two different geometry (Berkovich and cube corner) were investigated. The differences in stress distribution beneath the indentation region were studied by means of Finite Element Analysis. The dislocation distribution in front of a growing crack obtained through high-resolution microscopy was related to the fractographic aspects.