A study on the microstructures and mechanical properties of pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtered Cr-Si-N nanocomposite coatings

摘要

The nanocomposite Cr-Si-N thin films with various Si contents have been prepared by a bipolar asymmetric pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering system. The Cr-Si-N coatings exhibit a mixed CrN and Cr2N phases when Si contents is lower than 3.1 at.%, whereas a single CrN phase is observed for coatings with higher Si content. The crystallite size of Cr-Si-N decreases with increasing Si content and reaches to a minimum of 5.2 nm when the Si content is 10.1 at.%. A high hardness, low friction coefficient and good nanowear resistance are found in the Cr-Si-N coatings with around 10.1 at.% Si in this work. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.