Investigations on microstructure and mechanical properties of containing-Si coatings

ABSTRACT

Advanced AlCrSiN and AlTiSiN coatings were deposited on high-speed steel by cathodic vacuum arc. The microstructures, mechanical and tribological properties were studied, as well as cutting performance. The results show that multilayered AlCrSiN coating mainly consists of nanocrystalline fcc-AlCrN and a few amorphous Si₃N₄ phases, with an average module period of about 6.0 nm. While the AlTiSiN coating reveals nano-composite structure consisted of nanocrystalline fcc-AlTiN and hcp-AlN embedded into Si₃N₄ amorphous matrix. The AlCrSiN-coated tool reveals a more excellent cutting performance when compared with the AlTiSiN-coated tool due to its higher hardness, adhesion strength, H³/E*² ratio and wear resistance when compared with the AlTiSiN coating.

KEYWORDS:

• Cathodic vacuum arc
• containing-Si coating
• microstructure
• mechanical property
• cutting performance

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51641101); Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 1608085QE102); Key Research Project of Anhui Education Administration office (KJ2015A039); and Foreign Science and Technology Cooperation Plan of Jiangxi Province (20161BBE50064).