Magnetron sputtered films prepared from sintered Ti-based target and evaluation of tribological properties under the ball on disc condition with varying thickness and load

Abstract

The hard nanocomposite coatings comprised of titanium, silicon, boron, and carbon (Ti-Si-B-C) and titanium, silicon, boron, carbon, and nitrogen (Ti-Si-B-C-N) were deposited on SS 304 substrate using magnetron sputtering technique. The tribological properties of these Ti-Si-B-C and Ti-Si-B-C-N coatings were explored with the variation of load (200–600 g) and thickness (3–25 µm) against high strength steel ball using a ball on a disc tribometer. The nanoindentation technique was used to investigate the wear tracks and its consequent effect on the mechanical behaviour of uncoated and coated films. The analyses of the phases, microstructure, states of valence, shift of electron, and elemental compositions of the coatings were carried out by HRTEM, FESEM, AFM, XPS, EDX, and Raman spectroscopy techniques, respectively. The 2D cross-sectional profiles and 3D topographies of the wear tracks were explored using a 3D profilometer. All these studies established that the 10 µm thick titanium-based sputtered nanocomposite coatings on SS 304 are efficient wear-resistant materials that showed excellent protection of the substrates from wear up till application of 500 g load. A good correlation between the composition, structure, properties, and processing of materials has been discussed based on the obtained wear behaviour.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The multicomponent Ti-Si-B-C and Ti-Si-B-C-N films were deposited on SS 304 using the magnetron sputtering technique.

• The 10 µm thickness of Ti-Si-B-C and Ti-Si-B-C-N sputtered films on SS 304 showed excellent anti-wear performance.

• The specific wear rate of Ti-Si-B-C coated SS 304 (1.10 × 10⁻⁵ mm³/Nm) exhibited almost negligible in comparison to bare SS 304 (13.78 × 10⁻⁵ mm³/Nm).

• The average hardness and modulus values of the worn region of Ti-Si-B-C film were investigated at 23 and 320 GPa, respectively even after using a 600 g load.

• The roughness values on the worn region of uncoated surfaces are higher than on coated surfaces.

Keywords:

• Ti-Si-B-C and Ti-Si-B-C-N
• coating
• wear-resistant materials
• microstructural properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

PB is very much thankful to the Department of Higher Education, Science & Technology and Biotechnology, Government of West Bengal, India for providing financial assistance vide sanction order no. 78(Sanc.)/ST/P/S&T/6G-1/2018 dated 31.01.2019 and project no. GAP-225612. Parikshit Mahato would like to acknowledge DST-SERB, Government of India, for providing the National Post-Doctoral Fellowship (vide File No: PDF/2017/001187). PM also hereby acknowledged Chairman of B.A. College of Engineering and Technology, Jamshedpur. MM acknowledges the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, India for the National Fellowship for Higher Education of Scheduled Tribes Students (vide File No: F1-17.1/2014-15/RGNF-2014-15-ST-JHA-71559).