Effect of mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of sputtered Ti thin film on AA7075 substrate

In this work, metallic titanium film was deposited on graded alloy of AA7075 for different deposition time of 180, 300, 420 and 900 seconds at substrate temperature from 100 degrees C-400 degrees C using DC magnetron sputtering method. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the coated Ti thin films are analyzed. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX) result reveals homogeneous dispersion of Ti thin film on the substrate. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the Ti thin film shows (101) as the preferred orientation with HCP structure and the surface morphology was characterized using Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) for Ti film deposited with film thickness (154 mu m) at higher substrate temperature (400 degrees C). It is found that hardness, scratch resistance, adhesion, surface roughness and corrosion resistance of the Ti Deposited film exhibit significant improvement for MEMS Application.