journal article·2023-10-02Open access

Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of AlCrNbSiTiN High Entropy Alloy Nitride Coatings

Bih-Show Lou, Yu-Chen Lin, Jyh-Wei Lee

Coatings· Volume 13· Issue 10

Abstract

High-entropy alloy (HEA) nitride coatings have been extensively studied due to their desirable properties of high hardness, thermal stability, and corrosion resistance. Among HEA nitride thin films, the AlCrNbSiTiN coatings exhibit very good hardness, high temperature strength, and thermal stability. In this study, six AlCrNbSiTiN HEA coatings with different Al and Cr contents were synthesized using a co-sputtering system with a high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) power connected to an Al70Cr30 target and a mid-frequency power connected with an Al4Cr2NbSiTi2 high-entropy alloy target. The input power of the Al70Cr30 target was adjusted to obtain AlCrNbSiTiN coatings with different Al and Cr contents. It is observed that the sum of the Al and Cr contents and the (Al + Cr)/(Al + Cr + Nb + Si + Ti) ratio of the AlCrNbSiTiN coatings increased from 59 to 91 at.% when the input power of the Al70Cr30 target increased from 700 W to 1100 W. The single NaCl-type (B1) face-centered cubic (FCC) phase was observed for each coating. The hardness of the coatings increased from 21.2 to 28.2 GPa with increasing Al and Cr contents due to the grain size refinement effect brought by the increasing HiPIMS power. The wear depth and wear rate of the coatings sequentially decreased from 544 to 24 nm and from 2.79 × 10−5 to 2.63 × 10−7 mm3N−1m−1, respectively. Although the adhesion slowly decreased with increasing Al and Cr contents and the hardness of the coating, there was adequate adhesion with a minimum LC3 critical load of 36.1 N. The corrosion resistance of 304 stainless steel in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl aqueous solution was improved by deposition of the AlCrNbSiTiN coating. In this work, the high-entropy AlCrNbSiTiN nitride coating with a (Al + Cr)/(Al + Cr + Nb + Si + Ti) ratio of 91% exhibited excellent surface roughness, the highest hardness of 28.2 GPa, adequate adhesion, and the lowest wear rate of 2.63 × 10−7 mm3N−1m−1 due to its grain refinement effect by the ion bombardment generated with HiPIMS.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Metal and Thin Film Mechanics · High Entropy Alloys Studies · Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Chemistry Division, Center for General Education, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, New Taipei Municipal TuCheng Hospital, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, New Taipei 23652, Taiwan

Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei 24301, Taiwan

Center for Plasma and Thin Film Technologies, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei 24301, Taiwan

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan

High Entropy Materials Center, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan

Funding

National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan · Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan · Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan

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