Multicomponent TiSiBC superhard and tough composite coatings by magnetron sputtering
Highlights
► Hard and tough nanocomposite TiSiBC coatings have been achieved. ► The hardness and modulus of 45 GPa and 520 GPa ► The fracture toughness KIc 4.5–5 MPa m1/2 higher than many reported hard coatings ► The film showed less than 0.1 value for coefficient of friction.
Introduction
Hard coatings with low coefficient of friction are required to meet complex demands of mechanical systems for protection against wear and abrasion [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Monolithic coatings of transition metal carbides/nitrides and oxides have been mostly used as hard protective coatings. Apart from hardness, adequate level of toughness is also required. Secondly all single phase carbide and nitride coatings fail at high temperature due to oxidation. Hence superhard coatings with oxidation resistance at high temperature are another requirement. Blending together hardness, low friction coefficient, toughness, thermal stability in a coating is a challenge faced by today's scientific and technological community. Superhard nanocomposite coatings have attracted attention in recent past. The nanocomposites have nanometric-sized grains embedded in an amorphous matrix. The immiscibility of the two phases induces hardness in these coatings. The amount of matrix between the crystallites and the size of the nanocrystalline phase influence the hardness of the material [6], [7], [8]. The reduction of grain size to nanometric level results in increase in the number of atoms at the grain boundary. The restriction in dislocation motion in small grains surrounded by amorphous grain boundary and incoherence strains in the grain boundary are the reason for enhanced hardness in the nanocomposite.
The present manuscript discusses our research work on the TiSiBC nanocomposite coatings deposited on Si substrate by magnetron sputtering using TiSiBC target. The microstructural, mechanical behaviour and toughness of the coatings have been presented.
Section snippets
Experimental
The TiSiBC target of 3 mm thickness and 50 mm diameter was made from TiB2, SiC, and TiC powders. The powders were milled together, palletized and sintered in a graphite furnace at 1950 °C in argon atmosphere. Prior to deposition of films, the vacuum chamber was evacuated to 1 × 10− 6 mbar pressure. The depositions were carried out at 400 °C substrate temperature at 1 × 10− 2 mbar pressure in Argon atmosphere on Si(100) substrate. The detailed process is described elsewhere [9]. Microstructural studies were
Results and discussions
The coatings deposited were about 4 μm thick. The average roughness of 20 nm was measured by AFM using inbuilt software. Fig. 1 shows the AFM picture of TiSiBC film in two different magnifications and FFT atomic resolution picture on a particle. The particle size was found to vary between 10 and 50 nm. The observed lattice spacings were calculated as 2.3 Å from the line profile of FFT image (Fig. 1d) which is near to the interplaner spacings of (2 0 0) planes of TiC.
TEM studies showed the formation
Conclusions
Multicomponent TiSiBC thin film with high hardness and modulus of 45 GPa and 520 GPa with 50% elasticovery after unloading have been synthesised by single target magnetron sputtering. The film showed less than 0.1 value for coefficient of friction. The film showed amorphous matrix with crystalline nano phases of TiB2, phase containing Ti and Si and TiC, which led to achieve higher hardness, modulus with higher toughness. High values of hardness of these coatings was due to the high density of
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