Influences of Deposition Temperature on Microstructure and Properties of CrB_2 Coatings

In order to investigate the influence of deposition temperature on microstructure and properties of CrB_2 coatings. The CrB_2 coatings were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering technique.The microstructure and properties were mainly analyzed by XPS,XRD,SPM,SEM,HRTEM,nano-indentation and Vickers indentation tester.The results show that all the deposited CrB_2 coatings consist of CrB_2 and a small amount of free Cr.The coating has a dense columnar structure with an average column diameter of 7 nm extending along the film growth direction throughout the thickness of the coating.With increasing deposition temperature,the degree of crystallization of the coating is improved and the texture changes from random orientation mixed with(101)and(001)plane to(001)preferred orientation.The microstructure evolves from the fibrous structure to the columnar structure and becomes denser and finer.Meanwhile,the mechanical properties of the coating are improved high.When the deposition temperature is 400℃,the coating acquires the highest hardness of(50.72)GPa and the elasticity modulus of(513.610)GPa,respectively.The evolution of the orientation,microstructure and mechanical properties are attributed to the enhanced surface adatom mobility with increasing as the deposition temperature.