Structure, Mechanical Properties and Oxidation Resistance of Iso and Non-Iso Architected TiN/Cr Multilayers Coatings Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Iso and non-iso architected TiN/Cr multilayers with constant composition were deposited by balanced magnetron sputtering aiming to investigate the influence of different architectures over coatings structures and properties. Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy analyses were used to determine in-depth constituents and suggested that no diffusion of elements occurred between layers in room temperature. Field emission gun scanning electron microscopy analyses showed that all multilayers presented sharp interfaces and low porosity microstructures, with column-like grain growth influenced by layer sizes. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction analyses showed that multilayers consist of polycrystalline alpha-Cr and delta-TiN phases with a main peak in Cr(110) plane. The overlapping of TiN onto metallic layers led to the suppression of growth in the TiN(111) plane, although TiN layers thicker than 50 nm demonstrated a growth in plane TiN(200). Nanoindentation tests registered equal hardness values for all multilayers of around 16.2 GPa, on the other hand, a tendency to improve hardness has been identified for hierarchical multilayer. Oxidation tests revealed that architectures with thicker TiN top layers presented an improved oxidation resistance up to 600 degrees C, probably due to growth in more compact TiN(200) plane. However, TiN/Cr coatings did not resist integrally to oxidation tests at 750 degrees C.