Structure, mechanical and thermal properties of Y-doped CrAlN coatings

Abstract CrAlYN coatings with different Y contents (0, 5 and 12 at.%) were deposited by cathodic arc evaporation to investigate the influence of Y-addition on the structure, mechanical and thermal properties of CrAlN coatings by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis and nanoindentation. The structural transformation of single phase cubic Cr0.42Al0.58N and Cr0.39Al0.56Y0.05N coatings to cubic–wurtzite mixed Cr0.32Al0.56Y0.12N coating leads to a drop in hardness from (30.2±0.7) GPa of Cr0.42Al0.58N and (32.0±1.0) GPa of Cr0.39Al0.56Y0.05N to (25.2±0.7) GPa of Cr0.32Al0.56Y0.12N. The incorporation of 5 at.% Y retards the thermal decomposition of CrAlN, verified by the postponed precipitation of w-AlN and N-loss upon annealing. Correspondingly, Cr0.39Al0.56Y0.05N coating consistently exhibits the highest hardness value during thermal annealing. Nevertheless, alloying with Y exerts an adverse effect on the oxidation resistance of CrAlN.