Phase formation in the Ti–Al–Mo–N system during the growth of adaptive wear-resistant coatings by arc PVD

• Published in: Inorganic materials Vol. 52; no. 7; pp. 735 - 742
• Main Authors: Sergevnin, V. S., Blinkov, I. V., Belov, D. S., Volkhonskii, A. O., Skryleva, E. A., Chernogor, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.07.2016
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Coatings; Formations; Grain size; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Inorganic Chemistry; Materials Science; Molybdenum; Nitrides; Partial pressure; Physical vapor deposition; nanostructuring; phase composition; Ti–Al–Mo–N system; adaptive coatings; multilayer coatings; structure
• ISSN: 0020-1685; 1608-3172
• DOI: 10.1134/S002016851607013X

Ti–Al–Mo–N coatings have been grown by arc PVD at different bias voltages, V b , applied to the substrate and partial pressures of nitrogen reaction gas, p (N 2 ), in the working chamber. The coatings have a nanocrystalline structure, with an average grain size on the order of 30–40 nm and a layered architecture made up of alternating layers based on a (Ti,Al)N nitride and Mo-containing phases of thickness comparable to the grain size. It has been shown that the phase composition of the coatings depends on V b and p (N 2 ): raising the energy of deposited ions by increasing V b from–120 to–140 V, as well as raising p (N 2 ) from 0.3 to 0.5 Pa, leads to a more complete molybdenum nitride formation during coating growth, which causes a transition from (Ti,Al)N–Mo–Mo 2 N compositions to (Ti,Al)N–Mo 2 N. Measurements of the binding energy of Mo 3 d photoelectrons in metallic Mo and the Mo 2 N nitride by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have shown that the transition from the former phase to the latter is accompanied by a negligible energy shift.