Influence of Electron Beam Treatment of Co–Cr Alloy on the Growing Mechanism, Surface Topography, and Mechanical Properties of Deposited TiN/TiO2 Coatings

This study examines the effect of electron beam treatment (EBT) of Co–Cr substrate on the film growth mechanism, mechanical properties, and surface topography of TiN/TiO2 coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The obtained results and processes that occurred during the deposition are discussed in the context of crystallographic principles, and special attention is paid to the crystallographic orientation and growth mechanism studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanical properties were investigated by means of nanoindentation and wear tests. The surface topography was evaluated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results obtained in the present study showed that polycrystalline TiN and anatase TiO2 phases were present in all cases. Electron beam treatment of Co–Cr substrate tended to form a reorientation of the microvolumes from (111) to (200) of TiN, leading to a change in the growth mechanism from three-dimensional (Volmer–Weber) to layer-by-layer (Frank–van der Merwe). It was found that the electron beam treatment process did not significantly affect the thickness of the coatings and the deposition rate. The treatment process led to an increase in surface roughness. The higher surface roughness after the EBT process should be appropriate to support cell growth and adhesion on the surface of the deposited bilayer coating. It was demonstrated that EBT of the substrate caused a decrease in hardness of the deposited coatings from 10 to 5 GPa. The observed decrease in hardness was attributed to the change in the preferred crystallographic orientation and film growth mechanism. The hardness of the bilayer coating after the application of EBT of the Co–Cr substrate was much closer to that of human bones, which means that severe stress shielding effect could not be expected. The evaluated coefficient of friction (COF) exhibited significantly lower values in the case of EBT of the substrate compared to the untreated Co–Cr material.