Enhancement on the hardness and oxidation resistance property of TiN/Ag composite films for high temperature applications by addition of Si

Ju, Hongbo; Xu, Luyao; Luan, Jing; Geng, Yaoxiang; Xu, Junhua; Yu, Lihua; Yang, Junfeng; Fernandes, Filipe

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/24557

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Abstract(s)

Titanium nitride and silver (TiN/Ag) composite films exhibited the excellent self-lubricating properties in a wide temperature range due to the formation of the Ag rich tribolayer in the contact. However, Ag addition usually reduces the hardness and oxidation resistance properties of the films. In this paper, TiN/Ag/Si3N4 composite films were deposited using RF magnetron co-sputtering system to improve the mechanical and oxidation resistance properties of the TiN/Ag film. XRD and TEM analysis revealed that three-phases could be identified on the TiN/Ag/Si3N4 films: face-centered cubic (fcc) TiN, fcc-Ag and amorphous Si3N4 phases. The hardness of the TiN/ Ag film increased from ~16 GPa to ~24 GPa for TiN/Ag/Si3N4 with 15.3 at.% of Si due to the formation of the nanocomposite structure. The addition of Si allowed a significant improvement on the oxidation resistance temperature, and effectively avoiding of Ag diffusion, and thereby contributing the stability of the hardness of the film after annealing treatment.