Extreme cooling rates during physical vapor deposition (PVD) allow growth of metastable phases. However, we propose that reactive PVD processes can be described by a gas-solid paraequilibrium defining chemical composition and thus point defect concentration. We show that this notion allows for point defect engineering by controlling deposition conditions. As example we demonstrate that thermal stability of metastable (Ti,Al)N x , the industrial benchmark coating for wear protection, can be increased from 800°C to unprecedented 1200°C by minimizing the vacancy concentration. The thermodynamic approach formulated here opens a pathway for thermal stability engineering by point defects in reactively deposited thin films. IMPACT STATEMENTA novel thermodynamic methodology to predict stoichiometry of coatings is utilized to increase thermal stability of today's industrial benchmark hard coating TiAlN from 800°C to 1200°C by point defect engineering. ARTICLE HISTORY

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We report the enhancement of fracture toughness and strength of a cobalt-tantalum-based metallic glass thin film with increasing boron content. The improvement of the mechanical performance is attributed to the formation of a compositionally lamellar compared to uniform glass microstructure, which becomes thinner with increasing boron content as revealed by transmission electron microscopy. Compositional variations across the lamellar structure are revealed by atom probe tomography. Cobalt-and boron-rich regions alternate sequentially, whereas tantalum exhibits slight variations across the lamellae. Our results can be utilized in future design efforts for metallic glass thin films with outstanding mechanical performance.

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Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are used to systematically explore the influence of alloying on the stiffness and plasticity of Co–Fe–Ta–B metallic glasses. The Co(43.5)Ta(6.1)B(50.4) metallic glass studied in this work, with a Young’s modulus of 295 GPa, is the stiffest metallic glass known in literature. From the analysis of the density of the states it is suggested that the very large stiffness is due to strong covalent metal to boron bonding. Furthermore it has been observed that by alloying with Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, W, C, N and O the bulk to shear modulus ratio can be varied from 2.08 to 2.82. As noted by Lewandowski et al (2005 Phil. Mag. Lett.85 77) a brittle to plastic transition for metallic glasses can be identified in the range of 2.33 to 2.44. Hence, it is evident that the whole range from brittle to plastic behaviour can be covered,with the systems studied in this work. This evolution from brittle to plastic behaviour can be attributed to a change from predominately covalent to predominately metallic bond character.