Microstructure, mechanical, and tribological properties of niobium vanadium carbon nitride films

Abstract

Composite Nb-V-C-N films with different carbon content were synthesized using reactive magnetron sputtering system, and the influence of carbon on the microstructure, mechanical, and tribological properties of niobium vanadium nitride films was investigated. The films with carbon content below 9.1 at. % exhibited a two-phase of solid solution face-centered cubic (fcc) (NbV)(CN) and hexagonal close-packed (hcp) (NbV)2(CN); increasing the carbon content further induced the formation of amorphous carbon and CNx, and the films consist of fcc-(NbV)(CN), hcp-(NbV)2(CN), amorphous carbon, and CNx. Solid solution strengthening and the heterostructure led to an increase in hardness to ∼32 GPa at 9.1 at. % carbon. A further increase in carbon content led to a gradual decrease in hardness due to the formation of soft amorphous phases of carbon and CNx. The tribological properties of the films against alumina counterpart at room temperature were significantly influenced by the carbon content. The incorporation of carbon into the films decreased the average friction coefficient (μ) from ∼0.61 at 0 at. % carbon to ∼0.25 at 21.6 at. % carbon. As the carbon content increased, the wear rate first dropped from ∼2.6 × 10−8 mm3/(N mm) at 0 at. % carbon to ∼1.2 × 10−8 mm3/(N mm) at 9.1 at. % carbon, and then rose gradually to ∼8.7 × 10−7 mm3/(N mm) at 21.6 at. % carbon.

Influence of film thickness and Ar N2 plasma gas on the structure and performance of sputtered vanadium nitride coatings

“…The residual stresses of the VeN films deposited on the Si (100) wafers were determined by an interferometer (Newton's rings method [3,22]) and calculated with the following Stoney's formula [24]:…”

“…The dense structure and the smooth surface of the thick films contributed to the improvement of their wear resistance and to reduce their friction coefficient. In addition, the high H 3 /E 2 values and the enhancement of film hardness lead to increase its resistance against plastic deformation and wear [22].…”

“…Furthermore, VeN compounds were found to be thermodynamically stable, with a wide range of stoichiometry 0.5 to 1. Therefore, simultaneous determination of composition and crystal structure becomes important in order to obtain stoichiometric films with best mechanical properties [22,23].…”

Photoreactive Carbon Dots Modified g-C3N4 for Effective Photooxidation of Bisphenol-A under Visible Light Irradiation

“…For the N 1s spectrum for 1.5CDs/g-C 3 N 4 , it was deconvoluted into three bands at 395.0, 395.8, and 397.4 eV. The peak at 395.0 eV corresponds to C-N bond in amorphous carbon nitride [53], 395.8 eV is assigned to C-N=C bonding [54], and 397.4 eV also corresponds to sp 2 hybridization of nitrogen (C-N-C) [55]. As demonstrated in Figure S2c (Supplementary Materials), with regard to the O 1s spectra of pure g-C 3 N 4 , the peaks at 530.9 and 531.9 eV relate to the O-H signature for absorbed water [56].…”

Influence of Mo content on properties of Ti–Al–Mo–N films

“…At present, more and more attention has been paid to introducing one more element into ternary films to enhance hardness and friction properties. It is well known that ternary, quaternary, and multicomponent hard films with different metallic alloying elements will combine the benefits of individual components, leading to further refinement of the properties by the formation of multiphase systems [18,19]. For instance, Ju et al [20] incorporated Mo into ternary Zr-Al-N to form Zr-Al-Mo-N composite films which showed excellent friction and wear properties under both room temperature and high temperature.…”