Investigation of Ti/TiN/AlTiCrN hard coating deposited by Close Field Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract A Ti/TiN/AlTiCrN hard coating was developed and deposited with Close Field Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering. Technological experiments were performed to optimize the ratio between the composed metals Al, Ti, and Cr, and the ratio metals/nitrogen. Nanoindentation measurements obtained nanohardnes of 32 GPa. A scratch test with a normal load up to 30 N indicated good adhesion to the substrate. A tribological test with a rotational drive (ball on plate) was made with a load of 3 N and a path length of 50 m. The measured coefficient of friction was 0.34. It should be noted that the reported results are obtained at temperatures as low as 270 °C, which determines the coating as universal. The obtained results are compatible with ones obtained on the same coating deposited by high-temperature and power techniques as Cathodic Arc Deposition and HIPIMS. The investigated coating is aimed to improve the performance of tools made of materials with different thermal stability.