The crystalline structure, hardness and thermal stability of AlN/CrN superlattice coating prepared by D.C. magnetron sputtering

Characterizations of Magnetron Sputtered CrSiN/ZrN Multilayer Coatings—from Structure to Tribological Behaviors

“…TiN/ ZrN, CrN/ZrN, CrN/AlN etc. [1][2][3][4][5][6] ) have been studied intensively and show outstanding mechanical and tribological properties in comparison with their homogeneous monolayer nitride coatings. The current research interests in the multilayers are mostly devoted to the enhanced hardness effects.…”

“…For instance, CrN/AlN multilayer coatings show a superhardness of 40 GPa when the modulation periodicity is 3.8 nm. [6] Apart from the superhardness, multilayer structures are permitted to combine different coating properties such as wear-reducing functions, thermal stabilities at a high temperature and corrosion resistance. The multilayer properties can be improved by a careful structure design, e.g., grain size, morphology, as well as thickness ratio of constituent, and numbers of interfaces.…”

Design of hard surfaces with metal (Hf/V) nitride multinanolayers

“…Therefore, it is possible to apply the Hall-Petch effect when the ceramic materials, as hard multilayered coatings with Λ > 5.2 nm, are obtained. Since the multilayered coatings with lower Λ are within the nanoscale regime, the dislocations should not occur in nanoscale structures below certain grain size values [21]. …”

Oxidation behavior, microstructure evolution and thermal stability in nanostructured CrN/AlN multilayer hard coatings

“…Chromium aluminum nitride which exhibited better hardness and anti-oxidation resistance in comparison with the well-developed titanium aluminum nitride has been investigated [15]. Besides, the CrN/AlN multilayer coating was also proposed to further enhance the mechanical properties [16][17][18]. It was recently reported that the hardness of the CrN/AlN multilayer coating at elevated temperatures could be maintained, owing to the formation of the dense Al 2 O 3 and Cr 2 O 3 on the surface confirmed by XRD [17,18].…”

“…Besides, the CrN/AlN multilayer coating was also proposed to further enhance the mechanical properties [16][17][18]. It was recently reported that the hardness of the CrN/AlN multilayer coating at elevated temperatures could be maintained, owing to the formation of the dense Al 2 O 3 and Cr 2 O 3 on the surface confirmed by XRD [17,18]. In spite of the enormous developments, the detailed microstructure and composition evaluation concerning the dense oxide formed on the surface at different temperatures in air environment were limited in literature.…”