ISSN: 1546-962X
CODEN: JAIOAD
Published Online: 21 January 2011
Page Count: 9

Ti–Al–Si–C–N Hard Coatings Synthesized by Hybrid Arc-Enhanced Magnetron Sputtering

Wu, Guizhi
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an,

Liu, Sitao
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an,

Ma, Shengli
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an,

Xu, Kewei
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an,

Ji, Vincent
ICMMO/LEMHE, Univ. Paris-Sud 11, Orsay Cedex,

Chu, Paul K.
Dept. of Physics and Materials Science, City Univ. of Hong Kong, Kowloon,

(Received 2 July 2010; accepted 16 December 2010)

Abstract

Ti–Al–Si–C–N coatings are deposited by hybrid arc-enhanced magnetron sputtering and characterized by various micro and macro-tools. X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that the coatings are probably nanocomposites consisting of nanocrystallites and amorphous phases. They are generally in the form of nc-(Ti,Al)(C,N)/a-SiN/a-C, depending on the composition of the coatings. With increasing Al concentrations, the X-ray diffraction peaks shift to a lower angle and the measured hardness diminishes, implying a reduced contribution of the self-organized stable nanostructure. The dry friction coefficients of the Ti–Al–Si–C–N coatings are about 0.3, which is lower than that of conventional Ti–Si–N coatings. These coatings can find potential applications requiring heavy contact loading subject to high temperature.

Keywords:
Ti–Al–Si–C–N coatings, nanostructure, hardness, friction

Paper ID: JAI103223
DOI: 10.1520/JAI103223
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