Erosion resistance properties of tialvsicn coatings prepared by plasma enhanced magnetron sputtering

This paper aims to enhance the solid particles erosion resistance of stainless steel. A series of TiAlVSiCN coatings were prepared using plasma enhanced magnetron sputter (PEMS) deposition by employing different bias method. The coatings were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to characterize the surface morphologies, phase and microstructures, while the nanohardness, critical loads and erosion resistance were conducted using a nanoindentation, a scratch tester and a solid particle blaster. Results showed that the TiAlVSiCN coatings prepared by PEMS using a series of different biases are composed by nanocrystalline Ti(Al,V)(C,N) and amorphous with a compact column structure. The bias affects the size of crystalline grain and distrubtion of amorphous evidently, the coatings prepared under high bias are found to be a nanocomposite structure with grain size of 20~50 nm nanocrystalline Ti(Al,V)(C,N) dispersed in a matrix of amorphous, while under low bias the Ti(Al,V)(C,N) grain size varies to 100 nm and the amorphous gathers in a continuous zone. The thickness of the coating prepared under high bias is over 20 μm, the nanohardness reaches to (34.6±14.1) GPa, and the coatings exhibits excellent adhesion (>65 N) and erosion resistance, for the erosion resistance enhanced by 8 times compared with the stainless steel. By compromising with bias, PEMS can effectively control the structure of nanocomposite coatings, thus eventually making a good match of the hardness and elastic modulus properties, and the nanocrystalline-amorphous TiAlVSiCN coatings with thickness over 20 μm and excellent erosion resistance are prepared. © 2021, Chongqing Wujiu Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.