TiN–Fe nanocomposite thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

Abstract

TiN–Fe films with various iron concentrations were deposited on Si and NaCl single-crystal substrates by direct current reactive magnetron sputtering. The structure and chemical composition of the films were examined by x-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive x-ray and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The effects of Fe addition on the structural, mechanical and magnetic properties of TiN films were studied. XRD and HRTEM revealed for TiN–Fe a cubic B-1 structure while no sign of an iron phase was observed. It was found that the lattice parameter and the grain size decreased with an increase in the Fe/Ti atomic ratio. At Fe/Ti = 0.2, the XRD revealed a change in the preferential orientation from (1 1 1) to (2 0 0) with a tendency of line broadening as the iron concentration increased. The Fe 2p core level peak of XPS indicates that the greater part of Fe atoms in TiN–Fe films exists as free pure metallic iron while the lesser part was in the form of iron oxide. Film annealing at 500 and 600 °C led to iron precipitation of the α-Fe phase indicating that below 500 °C Fe–TiN, films can be considered as nanocomposites materials, as confirmed by nanoindentation measurements and HRTEM observations.

Microstructure, Mechanical and Tribological Properties of NbN/Ni Coatings

“…Regarding studied NbN/Ni coatings which may consist of hard phase doped with the soft metal phase (Ni), that is practically immiscible with the host phase and inert to nitrogen, the strengthening mechanism is diverse from the typical nanocomposite coatings such as TiN/a-Si3N4. In terms of our work, the main hardening mechanism should be: (i) grain size refinement (Hall-Petch effect) [15] and (ii) solution strengthening (Ni atoms may be incorporated into niobium sites up to its limit of solubility, which plays a critical role in solution strengthening so that the dislocation motion and crack development are suppressed at interfaces [16]. However, further increase the powers of Ni, the soft components facilitate the grain boundary sliding result in the hardness quickly decreased.…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Ti-Si-C-N Nanocomposite Coatings Prepared by a Filtered Vacuum Arc with Organosilane Precursors

“…The deposition rate of Ti-Si-C-N nanocomposite coating was found to decrease gradually from 18 to 8 nm/min, when the bias voltage increased from 0 to −400 V. The decreasing trend of deposition rate has been explained on the basis of removal of impurities and densification of films due to the energetic ion bombardment when increased substrate bias voltage [62].The XRD diffraction of Ti-Si-C-N nanocomposite coating for different substrate bias voltage is as shown in Fig. 8.…”

Structural evolution and formation mechanisms of TiC/Ti nanocomposites prepared by high-energy mechanical alloying

“…Therefore, decreasing the ceramic particulate size can lead to a substantial improvement in the mechanical performance of MMCs. The use of nanoparticles to reinforce metallic materials has inspired considerable research interest in recent years because of the potential development of novel composites with unique properties [6,7]. Such materials are termed nanocomposites.…”