Effects of Silicon Content on the Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of (AlCrTiZrV)-Six-N High-Entropy Alloy Films

Abstract

A series of (AlCrTiZrV)-Six-N films with different silicon contents were deposited on monocrystalline silicon substrates by direct-current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The films were characterized by the X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and nano-indentation techniques. The effects of the silicon content on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the films were investigated. The experimental results show that the (AlCrTiZrV)N films grow in columnar grains and present a (200) preferential growth orientation. The addition of the silicon element leads to the disappearance of the (200) peak, and the grain refinement of the (AlCrTiZrV)-Six-N films. Meanwhile, the reticular amorphous phase is formed, thus developing the nanocomposite structure with the nanocrystalline structures encapsulated by the amorphous phase. With the increase of the silicon content, the mechanical properties first increase and then decrease. The maximal hardness and modulus of the film reach 34.3 GPa and 301.5 GPa, respectively, with the silicon content (x) of 8% (volume percent). The strengthening effect of the (AlCrTiZrV)-Six-N film can be mainly attributed to the formation of the nanocomposite structure.

Multi-component and high-entropy nitride coatings—A promising field in need of a novel approach

“…28 Several studies on multi-component nitride coatings have studied the variation of Si content in the materials. 56,[61][62][63] A secondary amorphous phase is indeed formed at high enough Si contents; see, e.g., Fig. 8 showing HRTEM images from Lin et al 63 However, it seems that the attained nanocomposite is more diffuse than the well-known ternary super-hard materials (e.g., nc-TiN/a-Si 3 N 4 ) and thus does not lead to the same hardening.…”

New Advances in High-Entropy Alloys

“…It showed that the phase structure changes from the amorphous to the face-centered cubie (FCC) structure with increasing N content, which was proved to be related with the atomic size difference in the alloy system. Similarly, (AlCrTiZrV)Si x N high entropy film was prepared and characterized by Niu et al [ 36 ]. Then, an Al 0.5 CoCrCuFeNi coating was successfully prepared on an AZ91D magnesium alloy surface [ 37 ], and an AlCoCrFeNi coating was prepared on the stainless steel substrate [ 38 ].…”

High‐Throughput Exploration of Structural and Electrochemical Properties of the High‐Entropy Nitride System (Ti–Co–Mo–Ta–W)N

“…In this work, high-entropy nitrides (HENs) were investigated, which have been studied hitherto mainly for their application possibilities as hard coatings due to their promising mechanical properties. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] HENs tend to crystallize in an ordered face centered cubic NaCl structure with nitrogen amount of %50 at.-%. [11] In contrast, high-entropy alloys and oxides (HEA, HEO), as well as transition metal nitrides have drawn some interest in applications as noble metal free catalysts, for example, for (solar) water splitting.…”

“…In this work, high‐entropy nitrides (HENs) were investigated, which have been studied hitherto mainly for their application possibilities as hard coatings due to their promising mechanical properties. [ 1–10 ] HENs tend to crystallize in an ordered face centered cubic NaCl structure with nitrogen amount of ≈50 at.‐%. [ 11 ]…”