Effect of Modulation Period on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Nanoscale W/ZrB2 Multilayered Coatings

Nanoscale W/ZrB2 multilayered coatings were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering system at room temperature. SEM, XRD, surface profiler and nano-indenter were employed to investigate the influences of modulation period (Λ) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the films. The results showed that nanoscaled coatings had clear multilayered structure and almost all of multilayered coatings possess higher hardness and elastic modulus than the rule-of-mixtures value of monolithic W and ZrB2 coatings. At Λ=30 nm, W/ZrB2 multilayered with mixed polycrystalline texture exhibited the highest hardness of 41.5 GPa with lower residual stress.