Tribological studies of reactive magnetron sputtered titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) coatings

Abstract

Ternary TiAlN coatings were deposited on brass substrates by magnetron sputtering method. This paper is focused to study the effect of nitrogen:argon (N₂:Ar) gas ratio on tribological properties of TiAlN coatings. TiAlN coatings displayed (1 0 1) peak at N₂:Ar gas ratio value of 08:02. The evolution of single (1 0 3) peak for TiAlN coating was observed when the N₂:Ar gas ratio values were 08:00, 08:02, 08:5.2 and 08:12. The characterization of TiAlN coatings was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The evolution of well-crystalline structure of TiAlN coatings is observed with increase in N₂:Ar gas ratio from 08:00 to 08:12. The tribological properties of TiAlN coatings were tested by pin on disc tribometer at different values of load and sliding distance.

Keywords:

• Titanium aluminium nitride
• TiAlN
• sputtering
• tribology
• friction
• wear

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to President and Provost of CHARUSAT for supporting this research work. We are thankful to Head, Dr. K. C. Patel Research and Development Centre (KRADLE) affiliated to Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), India for granting permission to use various equipment’s available in their characterisation laboratory.