Influence of V content on properties of Ti–W–V–N films

ABSTRACT

Ti–W–V–N composite films with different vanadium contents were synthesised by multi-target reactive magnetron sputtering. The microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of Ti–W–V–N films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, nanoindentation and high-temperature ball-on-disc tribometer. The results showed that all the Ti–W–V–N composite films were face-centred cubic (fcc) structure, consisting of fcc-(Ti,W,V)N substitutional solid solution. When the V content ≥21.5 at.-%, the films consisted of fcc-(Ti,W,V)N and fcc-VN. The hardness of the films first increased and then decreased with the maximum value of 32.4 GPa, at 21.5 at.-% V. The test temperature had a significant effect on the tribological properties of Ti–W–V–N film with 21.5 at.-% V, the coefficient of friction (CoF) first increased and then decreased, with a minimum value of 0.304 at 700°C.While the wear rate increased gradually with increasing temperature.

KEYWORDS:

• Ti–W–V–N films
• microstructure
• mechanical properties
• tribological properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51374115, 51574131).