The influence of nitrogen pressure on the fabrication of the two-phase superhard nanocomposite (TiZrNbAlYCr)N coatings

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe multicomponent nitride coatings from TiZrNbAlYCr high entropy alloy (HEA) were fabricated using the vacuum-arc method. The effect of nitrogen pressure on the crystallite size, elemental and phase composition of (TiZrNbAlYCr)N coatings was investigated. A bias voltage applied to the substrate during the deposition process was À200 V. The partial nitrogen pressure was 0.05 Pa, 0.27 Pa, and 0.5 Pa. Bodycentered cubic (BCC) lattice with crystallites of 15 nm in size was formed at the lowest pressure. An increase in the pressure led to the formation of the two-phase structure: BCC phase with crystallite size of 15 nm and face-centered cubic (FCC) phase with crystallite size of about 3.5 nm. The same two-phase state was found in coatings fabricated at 0.5 Pa, while the mean crystallite size was 7 nm. The maximum hardness of the deposited coatings was about 47 GPa.

Nonstoichiometric Multicomponent Nitride Thin Films

“…The classification of HENs is similar with that of HEAs, but HEN materials are more general studied in thin films. HENs films are also based on d-block transition metals (TM), and three classes can be identified according to the origin of their metallic component: (i) the early TMs [2] among groups 4-6, such as, Ti, Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta and W; (ii) the late TM for example, CoCrCuFeNiN [38] ; and (iii) metals from the cross-groups, i.e., combining metals from one or both of the abovementioned two categories with a main-group element (e.g., Al), such as in TiZrNbAlYN [39] or AlCrMoNiTiN [40] . Table 1.1 is a summary of the times of element as constituent for the first class (also referred as refractory HENs) by investigating among 73 latest relevant articles.…”

“…One common class of methods is physical vapour deposition, such as thermal or electron beam evaporation, cathodic arc deposition, ion-plating, ion beam sputtering, pulsed laser deposition and various types of sputtering processes. Among these, the physical vapor deposition techniques including magnetron sputtering [66][67][68][69] , and cathodic arc deposition [39,70] are utilized for the fabrication of multicomponent nitride films. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is another versatile technique to deposit high-quality films by gas chemical reaction with each other.…”

Nanocomposite Multilayer Binary Nitride Coatings Based on Transition and Refractory Metals: Structure and Properties

“…These materials are characterized by a high melting point, hardness, corrosion resistance, good electrical and thermal conductivity [14,[37][38][39][40]. Due to the universal and simultaneously some unique properties, nitride coatings from transition metals are widely applied as structural materials in engineering, nuclear and chemical industries, in the production of abrasives, cutting tools, wear-resistant materials and so forth [41][42][43][44][45]. It is worth noting that some of the transition metal nitrides show superconducting properties at atmospheric pressure.…”

Oxidation Behavior and Structural Transformation of (CrTaTiVZr)N Coatings

“…On the basis of the development of HEAs, HEA films are frequently investigated because of their mechanical and thermal properties. Many researchers have prepared HEA films by using various methods, such as magnetron sputtering [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], laser cladding [13][14][15], electrochemical deposition [16], arc thermal spraying [17], cold spraying [18], electron beam evaporation deposition [19], and plasma cladding [20]. At present, laser cladding and magnetron sputtering are commonly used by researchers to obtain films with excellent physical properties.…”

“…Additional applications have been expanded recently by producing HEANs in the form of thin films, such as (AlCoCrNi)N [4], (TiZrHfNiCuCo)N [5], (CrTaTiVZr)N [6,7], (TiZrNbAlYCr)N [8], (AlCrNbSiTiV)N [9], (FeCoNiCrCuAl 0.5 )N [10], (FeCoNiCuVZrAl)N [11], and (TiVCrZrNbMoHfTaWAlSi)N [12]. Almost all HEAN coatings consist of a single face-centered cubic (FCC) solid solution structure.…”