Modification of Mechanical Properties of TiN/Al_2O_3 and TiN/Cr/Al_2O_3 Coatings Using Low-Energy High-Current Electron Beams

摘要

The structure, elemental and phase compositions of the TiN/Al_2O_3 and TiN/Cr/Al_2O_3 hybrid coatings have been studied. It has been shown that an electron-beam treatment of hybrid coating surface makes it possible to increase the protective layer microhardness from 8.3 to 14.4 GPa. It has been found that the increase of hybrid coating hardness is a result of an increase of the material density and recovery of the α-phase of Al_2O_3 in the protective layer composition due to the thermal activation of the surface.