Preparation And Properties Of Magnetron Sputtered TiN-based Coatings

TiN films,which exhibited high hardness,good wear and corrosion resistance,low resistivity and thermal stability as well as its distinctive golden yellow color,is widely used in various fields,such as tool coating,building decoration industry,integrated circuits in electronics industry.In the past,the investment on TiN films was mainly focused on a specific field of research on the performance of a particular films,rather than on the relationship between microstructure and properties of TiN thin films for systematic study.Therefore,in the present work,the effects of deposition parameters on the microstructure,growth orientation and mechanical performance of TiN films was studied.These studies have a significant sense to prepare the TiN films with high performance.TiN films were also been added with a third element for metal doping,the effects of metal doping on properties were been studied.TiAlN films is been heat-treated to change the microstructure and mechanical properties.The heated treatment has an influence on the properties of the films.In this paper,TiN films was prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering.The effects of depositing parameters of the nitrogen flow,deposition time,substrate bias voltage on growth orientation,microstructure and mechanical properties was been studied.With the incorporation of Al atoms,the microstructure and mechanical properties of TiN films with different content of Al was been systematic studied.In addition,the effects of annealing at high-temperature on properties of TiAlN films was also been studied.The results of investment on TiN films deposited on 304 stainless steel by DC magnetron sputtering found that the nitrogen flow rate,deposition time,substrate bias and the substrate temperature has a significant influence on the microstructure and properties of TiN thin films,thins film exhibited a growth orientation of(111)preferred orientation,With the incorporation of Al atoms,the intensity of(111)plane diffraction peak of was gradually decreasing,and the main growth orientation of the film transforms from(200)to(111).TiAlN films exhibited a better performance than TiN films with the incorporation of Al atoms.The study of anneling found TiAlN film presented a high thermal stability.But the hardness of the TiAlN films decreased after anneling,and the bonding strength increased.