Changing of Defect’s Structure and Properties of Superhard Nanostructured Ti-Si-N Coatings, Fabricated Using CPVD, before and after Annealing

Alexander D. Pogrebnjak, Oleksandr V. Bondar, Oleg V. Sobol, Vyacheslav M. Beresnev

Kharkov National University, Kharkov, Ukraine.
Kharkov National Technical University, Kharkov, Ukraine.
Sumy State University, R.-Korsakov, Sumy, Ukraine.

DOI: 10.4236/snl.2013.33009                

Abstract

Using such unique methods of analysis as slow positron beam (SPB), RBS, μ-PIXE (proton microbeam), XRD, SEM with EDS, XPS, nanohardness and elastic modulus measurements, we studied superhard nanostructure Ti-Si-N coatings, which were deposited using Cathodic-PVD method, before and after annealing at the temperature of 600°C for 30 minutes. It is shown in the paper that redistribution of N and Si occurs on the borders of nanograins after annealing, amorphous phase α-SiN_x (Si₃N₄) is created, defects segregates on interfaces and forms vacancy-type clusters with rather high concentration from 5 × 10¹⁶ cm^-3 to 7.5 × 10¹⁷ cm^-3 due to thermodiffusion. Solid solution (Ti,Si)N and small concentration of α-SiN (close to XRD detection limits) are formed in the coating. Also it was obtained, that deflected mode is formed in the coating (compressive deformation equals to –2.6%), but after thermal annealing deformation reduces to a value of -2.3%. Size of nanograins of solid solution (Ti, Si)N increases from 12.5 nm to (13.2 ÷ 13.4) nm. 25 nm size grains increase their size to 28.5 nm after annealing (under another deposition regime).

Keywords

Nanostructure; Wear; Nanohardness; Profiles of Defects; Ti-Si-N

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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