Ion Beam Analysis, structure and corrosion studies of nc-TiN/a-Si3N4 nanocomposite coatings deposited by sputtering on AISI 316L

In this work, nanocomposite coatings of nc-TiN/a-Si3N4, were deposited on AISI 316L stainless steel substrate by a DC and RF reactive magnetron co-sputtering technique using an Ar–N2 plasma. The structure of the coatings was characterized by means of XRD (X-ray Diffraction). The substrate and coating corrosion resistance were evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization using a Ringer solution as electrolyte. Corrosion tests were conducted with the purpose to evaluate the potential of this coating to be used on biomedical alloys. IBA (Ion Beam Analysis) techniques were applied to measure the elemental composition profiles of the films and, XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) were used as a complementary technique to obtain information about the compounds present in the films.The nanocomposite coatings of nc-TiN/a-Si3N4 show crystalline (TiN) and amorphous (Si3N4) phases which confer a better protection against the corrosion effects compared with that of the AISI 316L.