Effect of the Post-Deposition Thermal Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of a Compositionally Modulated CrAlSiN-AlSiN Coating

A CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with periodically modulated composition was investigated regarding dependence of the mechanical properties and toughness, morphology, composition, and structure on thermal treatment in the interval of 600–900 °C in argon ambience. The coating exhibited superhardness and high...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lilyana Kolaklieva, Roumen Kakanakov, Daniela Kovacheva, Vasiliy Chitanov, Tetyana Cholakova, Christo Bahchedjiev, Stefan Kolchev
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/4a7f0e62b76a4b0ea061234405294aca
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:A CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with periodically modulated composition was investigated regarding dependence of the mechanical properties and toughness, morphology, composition, and structure on thermal treatment in the interval of 600–900 °C in argon ambience. The coating exhibited superhardness and high toughness up to 800 °C. A very slight decrease in the nanohardness, resistance to elastic strain to failure, and plastic deformation were observed. The coating had enhanced elastic recovery stable up to 700 °C. It was found that the coating morphology was not substantially influenced by the thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the modulated coating had a nanocomposite structure, which did not change after annealing, even at 900 °C. The grains were composed mainly of fcc-CrN and h-AlN phases embedded into an amorphous Si<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> matrix. A small amount of an h-Cr<sub>2</sub>N phase appeared after heating at temperatures above 700 °C. The coating composition was examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The coating was stoichiometric up to 800 °C. It became sub-stoichiometric with respect to nitrogen after annealing at 800 °C and 900 °C. It is thus concluded that the CrAlSiN-AlSiN coating with a periodically modulated structure keeps the combination of superhardness (45.3 GPa) and improved toughness (H<sup>3</sup>/E*<sup>2</sup> = 0.362 GPa, elastic recovery 57%) at temperatures up to 800 °C, and is suitable for high thermal applications.