Microstructure and tribological properties of Ti(Cr)SiCN coating deposited by plasma enhanced magnetron sputtering

Three kinds of hard coatings, TiSiCN, TiCrSiCN and CrSiCN were deposited on WC/Co alloys by plasma enhanced magnetron sputtering (PEMS) technique. Those coatings were comparatively studied with respect to their microstructure and mechanical properties. The sliding tribological behaviour of the coatings against Ti6Al4V counterpart was also studied by pin-on-disc tests. The results indicated that TiN and CrN were the main phase composition for the TiSiCN and CrSiCN coatings, respectively. While the TiCrSiCN coating consisted of TiCrN2 phases or Cr be incorporated in TiN as a single solid solution. The TiCrSiCN coating showed higher hardness than the CrSiCN coating, better adhesion with substrate than the TiSiCN coating, and higher dry sliding wear resistance against the Ti6Al4V counterpart than both TiSiCN and CrSiCN coatings.