Effects of Bias Voltages on the Structural, Mechanical and Oxidation Resistance Properties of Cr–Si–N Nanocomposite Coatings

Abstract

Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings were deposited by multi-arc ion plating under different bias voltages. The influences of bias voltage on composition, microstructure, surface morphology and mechanical properties of Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings were investigated in detail. The HR-TEM, XRD, and XPS results confirmed the formation of nanocomposite structure of nanocrystalline of CrN embedded into the amorphous phase of Si3N4. The particle radius of CrN can be calculated from the half-width of the diffraction peak of CrN (200) and the value was about 20–60 nm. In addition, no diffraction peaks of CrSi2, Cr3Si, or Si3N4 were found in all the Cr–Si–N coatings. With the increasing of bias voltages from 0 to −200 V, the number and size of large droplets on the coating surface decreased, and the growth mode of the coatings changed from loose to dense. However, with the increasing of bias voltages from 0 to −200 V, the micro-hardness of the coatings increased and then decreased, reaching its maximum value at negative bias voltages of 100 V. It was found that the friction coefficient of Cr–Si–N coatings is almost the same except for the Cr–Si–N coatings deposited under bias voltage of 0 V. When the oxidation temperature was at 800 °C, the Cr–Si–N coating was only partially oxidized. However, with the increase of oxidation temperature to 1200 °C, the surface of the coating was completely covered by the oxide generated. The results showed that the bias voltages used in multi-arc ion plating had effects on the structure, mechanical, and high temperature oxidation resistance properties of Cr–Si–N nanocomposite coatings.

Electrochemical behaviour of sputter-coated titanium films on AZ31 magnesium alloy

“…[32][33][34][35] In the literature materials such as Ni-P/nano-SiC, Carbon nanotubes reinforced electrospun chitosan nanocomposite, CrSiN/CrN/Cr and Mg-Al-Layered Double Hydroxide were used to protect the surface of AZ31. [36][37][38][39] One such popular metal Al whose film was coated on AZ31 in our other work and found it to be a suitable protective coating. 40 Each of the material system has its own merits and demerits.…”

Structure and Properties of Wear-Resistant Nanostructured Coatings Based on W, Cr and N

“…A wide range of scientific research is devoted to the study of the material properties of nanostructured coatings with universal [13] and high wear-resistant characteristics [3,[14][15][16]. Among various coatings, nitride nanocomposite or nanolayer systems are studied quite widely [5,7,9,11,13,14].…”

“…A wide range of scientific research is devoted to the study of the material properties of nanostructured coatings with universal [13] and high wear-resistant characteristics [3,[14][15][16]. Among various coatings, nitride nanocomposite or nanolayer systems are studied quite widely [5,7,9,11,13,14]. Transition metal nitrides are considered as a protective coating due to their excellent properties in terms of hardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.…”

Exploring the energy landscape and crystal structures of CrSi2N4

“…[ 11] Thin films of CrSi(O, N) prepared by dc magnetron or rf diode sputtering and annealed to obtain small TCRs and high stability are suggested to be particularly suited for high ohmic thin film precision resistors with a sheet resistivity of up to 20 kΩ. [ 12] To this day, multiple studies performed on the CrÀ SiÀ N surface coatings have demonstrated improvements in mechanical and tribological properties, [ 8a, 13] reduction of friction coefficient, enhanced oxidation, [ 14] and corrosion resistance [ 5a] when compared with CrN surface coatings. This excellent performance has led to the application of CrÀ SiÀ N coatings on the surface of various engineering components and parts.…”