Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5465102 | Surface and Coatings Technology | 2017 | 27 Pages |
Abstract
A V0.38Al0.58Si0.04N coating was prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering, followed by isothermal annealing experiments with various temperatures from 700 °C to 1100 °C. The evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties as a function of the annealing temperature, was investigated by using nanoindentation tests, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). An age-hardening effect, with an increase in hardness of ~ 24% after the isothermal annealing at 800 °C, was observed in the coating, which could be attributed to grain boundary segregation along with nanometer-size coherent domains formed locally. The sample annealed at 900 °C exhibited compacted columnar structure with defined boundaries, where more amorphous phase segregated along the boundaries of parent columns and the columns partially contained coherent nanometer-size domains of V-enriched and Al-enriched. However, accompanied by the appearance of hcp-AlN at 1100 °C, the hardness of coating decreased. Both fine cracks and delamination formed in the coating.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Authors
Enqing Wang, Fangfang Ge, Ping Zhu, Peng Li, Fanping Meng, Rui Shu, Jianling Yue, Feng Huang,