Mechanical, tribological, and oxidation properties of Si-containing CrAlN films

Abstract

Abstract CrXAlYSiZN films were synthesized by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering from alloy targets. The metal ratio of Cr to Al in the targets was close to that corresponding to the cubic-to-hexagonal phase transition. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that all prepared films had the cubic structure without precipitation of the hexagonal phase. The microhardness increased from 30.9\u202fGPa for Cr0.41Al0.59N up to 42.2\u202fGPa for Cr0.43Al0.46Si0.11N. During dynamic oxidation, the exothermic peak in the differential thermal analysis curve shifted from 1286\u202f°C for Cr0.41Al0.59N to 1384\u202f°C for Cr0.43Al0.46Si0.11N. Consistent with the dynamic oxidation behavior, the mass gain measured by thermogravimetric analysis for Cr0.43Al0.46Si0.11N exhibited the minimum values at isothermal oxidation temperatures of 800–1200\u202f°C. In addition, we evaluated the microstructure, microhardness, tribological properties, and oxidation behaviors of the films considering the requirements for use as wear-resistant coatings.