TiN–Cu–InSn and TiN–Cu–InSn–Pb Multicomponent Solid Lubricant Coatings

Abstract—The surface quality, structure, phase and elemental compositions, and tribotechnical characteristics of ≈1 μm-thick Ti–InSn–Cu and Ti–Pb–InSn–Cu coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering under various conditions with clockwise and counterclockwise substrate rotation are investigated. In all cases, coatings with nanocrystalline structure are deposited. The morphology of the Ti–InSn–Cu coatings is discontinuous columnar, and that of the Ti–Pb–InSn–Cu coatings is layered columnar. The addition of lead is found to increase the surface roughness and the coating thickness. The microhardness of the coatings is 239–275 HV depending on composition, deposition conditions, and substrate rotation direction. The microhardness of the coatings deposited under counterclockwise rotation, where layers are deposited in the sequence TiN–Cu–InSn, is higher by 8–15%. The friction coefficient for the TiN–Cu–InSn coatings is lower than that of the Ti–Pb–InSn–Cu coatings, μ = 0.20–0.23 and ≈0.3, respectively. The substrate rotation direction during deposition influences the tribotechnical properties of the coatings.