Influence of Nitrogen Content on Properties of CrN Coatings Deposited by Single Target Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract:

CrN coatings with different nitrogen (N) content were deposited successfully on the 304 stainless steel, using the single direct-current reactive magnetron sputtering target. The surface and section morphologies, composition, phase structure, hardness and adhesion of CrN coatings were studied systematically by SEM, EDS, XRD, a digital micro-hardness tester and a multi-functional tester for material surface properties. Results indicated that deposition rate of CrN coatings declined with the increase of N₂ flow percentage. At the high argon gas pressure, the surface morphology grew via a pyramidal mode, but the surface grain shape of CrN coatings changed from stacking of sheets to looser globular structure to denser texture with the ever-increasing nitrogen pressure in a fixed total pressure. The phases in low N content coating were mostly Cr₂N and a small amount of metal Cr while CrN phase existed in high N content coatings, and the crystal preferred orientation changed significantly with the varying N₂ flow rates. Appropriate N content can improve the comprehensive performance of CrN coating, the increase of N content contributed to the enhancement of coating compactness and the formation of CrN phase, which can account for the phenomenon that coating hardness improved and coating adhesion dropped weakly when N content was increasing.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 680)
• Pages: 502-506
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.680.502
• Online since: February 2016
• Authors: Hao Zhang, Jin Shang, Chen Gang Luo, Long Qing Wu, Shu Wang Duo*
• Keywords: CrN Coatings, Magnetron Sputtering, Micro-Structure, N Content, Performance

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