A Study Of (Ti, Al, Zr) N Super-Hard Reactive Films

The (Ti,Al,Zr)N super-hard reactive films have been deposited on high-speed steel substrate by multi-arc ion plating technology and using cathodic targets of Ti-Al-Zr alloys with different compositions. The influences of deposition processing parameters, such as bias voltage, N₂ partial pressure, the number of arc, on the microstructure and properties of the films have been investigated. The deposition parameters of the experiments have been orthogonally-designed. The proper deposition process has been deterimined. The films with glabrous appearance and smooth surface have been obtained under the conditions of the selected deposition processes.The oxization surface morphology of the films have been observed. The micro-hardness values of the surfaces of all the as-deposited films have been measured by the digital Micro-hardness tester. The adhesive properties of film/substrate have been measured by scratch test. The critical loads and the pull-broken tendency of the films have been obtained. The effects of the deposition process and the composition of alloy targets on the properties of the films have been analyzed and discussed based on the properties of the films. Then the optimal deposition progress was selected for the optimum compositive properties.The present investigation showed that all the (Ti,Al,Zr)N super-hard reactive films deposited by multi-arc ion plating technology had excellent compositve properties by optimizing deposition process. The micro-hardness of the films was larger than 2700HV. The adhesion of the films, in terms of critical load, reached up to 160N. The oxization-resistance of the films under high temperature was very excellent. The as-dposited films could then meet the requirement for the high properties serving as hard film for cutting tools.The above results showed that the as-deposited (Ti, Al, Zr)N super-hard reactive films by using directly Ti-Al-Zr alloys were actually available. The (Ti, Al, Zr)N films will have bright prospects in industry application.