Effects of Si addition on structure and mechanical properties of TiAlSiCN coatings

Abstract TiAlSiCN coatings were deposited by radio frequency reactive magnetron co-sputtering. In the coatings, the Si content is tuned by using targets with different Si additions. The structures and mechanical properties of the TiAlSiCN coatings were strongly depended on the Si content. The Si ~3 at.% sample exhibits the highest hardness of 38 GPa among the coatings prepared in this work. The nanocomposite microstructure containing B1-TiN nanocrystals with C:N ≈ 1:1 and combined C, SiN x and SiC x amorphous phases is attributed to the enhanced hardness.