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Evolution of the microstructure, residual stresses, and mechanical properties of W–Si–N coatings after thermal annealing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

A. Cavaleiro ,
A.P. Marques ,
J.V. Fernandes ,
N.J.M. Carvalho  and
J.Th. De Hosson
A. Cavaleiro*
Affiliation:
Instituto Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais e Superficies, Dep. de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal
A.P. Marques
Affiliation:
Instituto Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais e Superficies, Dep. de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal
J.V. Fernandes
Affiliation:
Centro de Engenharia Mecânica da Universidade de Coimbra, Dep. de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal
N.J.M. Carvalho
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics and Netherlands Institute for Metals Research, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, The Netherlands
J.Th. De Hosson
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics and Netherlands Institute for Metals Research, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, The Netherlands
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: albano.cavaleiro@dem.uc.pt
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Abstract

W–Si–N films were deposited by reactive sputtering in a Ar + N2 atmosphere from a W target encrusted with different number of Si pieces and followed by a thermal annealing at increasing temperatures up to 900 °C. Three iron-based substrates with different thermal expansion coefficients, in the range of 1.5 × 10−6 to 18 × 10−6 K−1 were used. The chemical composition, structure, residual stress, hardness (H), and Young’s modulus (E) were evaluated after all the annealing steps. The as-deposited film with low N and Si contents was crystalline whereas the one with higher contents was amorphous. After thermal annealing at 900 °C the amorphous film crystallized as body-centered cubic α–W. The crystalline as-deposited film presented the same phase even after annealing. There were no significant changes in the properties of both films up to 800 °C annealing. However, at 900 °C, a strong decrease and increase in the hardness were observed for the crystalline and amorphous films, respectively. It was possible to find a good correlation between the residual stress and the hardness of the films. In several cases, particularly for the amorphous coating, H/E higher than 0.1 was reached, which envisages good tribological behavior. The two methods (curvature and x-ray diffraction) used for calculation of the residual stress of the coatings showed fairly good agreement in the results.

Keywords

AnnealingHardnessThermal stress
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 20 , Issue 5 , May 2005 , pp. 1356 - 1368
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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