Influence of the high-temperature annealing on the structure and mechanical properties of vacuum–arc coatings from Mo/(Ti + 6 wt % Si)N

Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive element microanalysis, X-ray structural analysis, and microindentation were used to study the effect of the deposition conditions in a reactive nitrogen atmosphere on the growth morphology, phase composition, structure, and microhardness of vacuum–arc multilayer coatings produced by the evaporation of cathodes from Mo and (Ti + 6 wt % Si) both after their deposition and after high-temperature annealing. It has been established that the use of the composite cathode of Ti and Si allows the formation of the structure state inclined to ordering to form a two-phase compound from TiN and Ti5Si3 at high-temperature annealing. In this case the coating hardness increases to a value higher than 45 GPa.