Structure, Oxidation Resistance, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of N- and C-Doped Ta-Zr-Si-B Hard Protective Coatings Obtained by Reactive D.C. Magnetron Sputtering of TaZrSiB Ceramic Cathode

Coatings in the Ta-Zr-Si-B-C-N system were produced by magnetron sputtering of a TaSi2-Ta3B4-(Ta,Zr)B2 ceramic target in the Ar medium and Ar-N2 and Ar-C2H4 gas mixtures. The structure and composition of coatings were studied using scanning electron microscopy, glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, energy-dispersion spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Mechanical and tribological properties of coatings were determined using nanoindentation and pin-on-disk tests using 100Cr6 and Al2O3 balls. The oxidation resistance of coatings was evaluated by microscopy and X-ray diffraction after annealing in air at temperatures up to 1200 °C. The reactively-deposited coatings containing from 30% to 40% nitrogen or carbon have the highest hardness up to 29 GPa and elastic recovery up to 78%. Additionally, coatings with a high carbon content demonstrated a low coefficient of friction of 0.2 and no visible signs of wear when tested against 100Cr6 ball. All coatings except for the non-reactive ones can resist oxidation up to a temperature of 1200 °C thanks to the formation of a protective film based on Ta2O5 and SiO2 on their surface. Coatings deposited in Ar-N2 and Ar-C2H4 demonstrated superior resistance to thermal cycling in conditions 20-T−20 °C (where T = 200–1000 °C). The present article compares the structure and properties of reactive and “standard-inert atmosphere” deposited coatings to develop recommendations for optimizing the composition.