Influence of Al-Content on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties in ZrAlN Coatings

Abstract:

Zirconium aluminum nitride coatings have been deposited onto Ti-6Al-4V substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering in order to investigate the influence of Al-content on the microstructure and mechanical properties. The morphology and microstructure of the coatings were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanoindentation and Vicker’s indentation methods were employed to measure the hardness and toughness of the coatings, respectively. The results show that a structure of single cubic phase with twinning is formed at Al content of x ≤ 0.23, and a two-phase structure of hexagonal and cubic phase is formed at Al content of x ≥ 0.47. Hardness and toughness of the Zr_1-xAl_xN coatings show similar tendency with the increasing of Al-content. Both of them reach the maximum values at x=0.23 and drop to the minimum values at x=0.47, after that, they slightly increase with the increasing Al-content. The enhanced hardness and toughness achieved at x=0.23 is ascribed not only to single cubic phase structure but also to twinning structure.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 1004-1005)
• Pages: 778-783
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1004-1005.778
• Online since: August 2014
• Authors: Xiao Ying Zhu, Jun Du*, Gui Min Liu, Xiao Hui Zheng
• Keywords: Hardness, Reactive Magnetron Sputtering, Toughness, ZrAlN Coatings

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