Contact damage and fracture micromechanisms of multilayered TiN/CrN coatings at micro- and nano-length scales

In this study, systematic nanomechanical and micromechanical studies have been conducted in three multilayer TiN/CrN systems with different bilayer periods (8, 19 and 25 nm). Additionally, experimental work has been performed on corresponding TiN and CrN single layers, for comparison purposes. The investigation includes the use of different indenter tip geometries as well as contact loading conditions (i.e. indentation/scratch) such to induce different stress field and damage scenarios within the films. The surface and subsurface damage under the different indentation imprints and scratch tracks have been observed by atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam. Multilayer TiN/CrN coated systems are found to exhibit higher adhesion strength (under sliding contact load) and cracking resistance (under spherical indentation) than those coated with reference TiN and CrN monolayers. The main reason behind these findings is the effective development of microstructurally-driven deformation and cracking resistant micromechanisms: rotation of columnar grains (and associated distortion of bilayer period) and crack deflection of interlayer thickness length scale, respectively.