Effects of Power on Microstructure and Hardness of Sputtered TiB₂ Films

Abstract:

The TiB₂ films were prepared on AISI 316L substrate by magnetron sputtering with various powers to investigate the influence of sputtering power on the microstructure and hardness of films. The crystalline structures and cross-sectional morphology of TiB₂ films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), respectively. The hardness was measured by nano-indentation. XRD patterns showed that the preferred orientation of TiB₂ films transferred from (100) to (001) with the increase of power. It can be observed that each film processed homogeneous by the cross-sectional images. The hardness of films varied from 21 to 32 GPa depending on the value of power. The enhancement of hardness may be attributed to the effect of the residual stress state and the microstructure of films. Furthermore, the effects of power on hardness of TiB₂ films were discussed in details.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 647)
• Pages: 697-700
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.647.697
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Mu Jian Xia, Hong Yan Ding, Guang Hong Zhou, Yue Zhang, Guo Zhi Zhuang
• Keywords: Hardness, Magnetron Sputtering, Microstructure, TiB₂ Films

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