The improvement of oxidation resistance, mechanical and tribological properties of W2N films by doping silicon

W-Si-N composite films were deposited on both stainless steel and silicon wafers using a reactive magnetron system. The silicon content of the film was varied to evaluate the effect of silicon on films' elemental composition, microstructure, oxidation resistance, mechanical and tribological properties. These series of test were conducted using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analytical tools. The W-Si-N films showed a two-phase structure of solid solution face-centered cubic (fcc) W(Si)Nx and an amorphous Si3N4. The thermal stability and the oxidation resistant temperature of W-Si-N films increased from about 380 °C at 0 at% Si to about 650 °C at 31.2 at% Si with the incorporation of Si into W2N matrix. The hardness of the films increased continuously from 26 GPa at 0 at% Si to 40 GPa at 23.5 at% Si which was due to solid strengthening and fine-grained strengthening. The silicon content affected the tribological properties of the film at room temperature but this was mainly influenced by the yield pressure, H/E ratio and elastic recovery, since lubricant tribo-film WO3 was detected on all surfaces of the W-Si-N films. There was an initial gradual decrease in average coefficient of friction and wear rate until a minimum, but a further increase in silicon content resulted in increase in both friction coefficient and wear rates. The least coefficient of friction and wear rate values were 0.30 and 8.7 × 10− 8 mm3/N·mm at 23.5 at% Si.