Effect of the Post-Deposition Thermal Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of a Compositionally Modulated CrAlSiN-AlSiN Coating
Source abstract
Abstract
A CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with periodically modulated composition was investigated regarding dependence of the mechanical properties and toughness, morphology, composition, and structure on thermal treatment in the interval of 600–900 °C in argon ambience. The coating exhibited superhardness and high toughness up to 800 °C. A very slight decrease in the nanohardness, resistance to elastic strain to failure, and plastic deformation were observed. The coating had enhanced elastic recovery stable up to 700 °C. It was found that the coating morphology was not substantially influenced by the thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the modulated coating had a nanocomposite structure, which did not change after annealing, even at 900 °C. The grains were composed mainly of fcc-CrN and h-AlN phases embedded into an amorphous Si3N4 matrix. A small amount of an h-Cr2N phase appeared after heating at temperatures above 700 °C. The coating composition was examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The coating was stoichiometric up to 800 °C. It became sub-stoichiometric with respect to nitrogen after annealing at 800 °C and 900 °C. It is thus concluded that the CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with a periodically modulated structure keeps the combination of superhardness (45.3 GPa) and improved toughness (H3/E*2 = 0.362 GPa, elastic recovery 57%) at temperatures up to 800 °C, and is suitable for high thermal applications.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Metal and Thin Film Mechanics · Advanced ceramic materials synthesis · Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Central Laboratory of Applied Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 61 St. Petersburg Blvd., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Funding
European Regional Development Fund within the OP “Science and Education for Smart Growth 2014 - 2020”, Project CoE “National center of mechatronics and clean technologies“,
References (54)
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