Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Mechanical Behavior of Hard TiAlN Nanostructured Coatings Applied by PVD on HSS Substrate

In this research, nanostructured TiAlN coatings were applied on HSS substrate using cathodic arc evaporation method (CAE) in the different duty cycle values. Then the effect of duty cycle on the coating surface properties including surface morphology and structure, coating thickness and mechanical behavior of nanostructured coatings were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the surface coatings. Also, micro indentation and adhesion test were utilized to evaluate the mechanical behavior. The results show that by changing the duty cycle, the macro-particles size and amount change which is effective on the roughness and morphology of the coatings. It is attributed to the electrical charge of macro-particles that are produced in the process which can be influenced by the structure. Also, the changes in grain size depend on the changes of duty cycle value. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the coatings are affected by altering the duty cycle related to the deposition mechanism. The hardness value of TiAlN coatings increases from 3168 HV to 3817 HV when the duty cycle increases from 25% to 50%. But whit an increase in duty cycle from 50% to 75%, hardness reduced to 3582 HV. Consequently, it can be possible to find an optimum duty cycle value to achieve the best mechanical properties. Also, the minimum friction coefficient (0.44) and the minimum wear rate were determined for the TiAlN coating with the duty cycle of 75%, which it can be attributed to better smoothness and higher density of the coating.