Effect of Al content on the hardness and thermal stability study of AlTiN and AlTiBN coatings deposited by HiPIMS

Abstract

The microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal stability of Al x Ti 1−x N and Al 1−x Ti x BN coatings grown by reactive high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) have been analyzed as a function of Al/(Al + T i) ratio (x) between 0.5 and 0.8. The coatings were predominantly formed by a face-centered cubic Ti(Al)N crystalline phase, both with and without B, even for x ratios as high as 0.6, which is higher than the ratio typically encountered for Al x Ti 1−x N coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering.B doping, in combination with the highly energetic deposition conditions offered by HiPIMS, results in the suppression of the columnar grain mor-