Creep behavior evaluation and characterization of SiC film with Cr interlayer deposited by HiPIMS in Ti-6Al-4V alloy

This paper presents a study about creep behavior of SiC thin films with Cr interlayer deposited by High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) on Ti-6Al-4V alloys with Widmanstätten microstructure. After SiC/Cr film depositions, a microstructural characterization was performed using Scratching Test, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Scratching tests showed that the film was well adhered to the substrate, which proves that the Cr interlayer is closely related to the strength of adhesion between SiC film and the substrate. The SiC film surface morphology has columnar shape according to STEM images. Creep test results were compared with earlier Ti-6Al-4V Widmanstätten microstructure studies, and they showed an increased lifetime for the Ti-6Al-4V Widmanstätten microstructure with SiC/Cr film, which indicates a higher creep resistance than the specimen without the SiC/Cr film. The SiC/Cr film deposited by HiPIMS improved the creep behavior of the Ti-6Al-4V Widmanstätten microstructure.