The investigation of adhesion and fatigue properties of TiN/TaN multilayer coatings

Abstract

TiN/TaN multilayer coatings exhibit excellent mechanical properties when compared to single layer nitride coatings. In this study, TiN/TaN multilayer coatings were deposited on Mo-alloy and W-alloy substrates by CFUBMS. The structural and mechanical properties of coatings were analysed using XRD, EDS, SEM and a micro-hardness tester, respectively. To determine the adhesion and fatigue behaviour of the coatings were performed a scratch test in two modes that a standard mode with progressive loading and sliding-fatigue multimode operation with unidirectional sliding, respectively. A microscope was used to characterize adhesion and fatigue failures. The structural, mechanical, adhesion and fatigue properties of TiN/TaN multilayer coatings significantly changed depending on the substrate.