Substrate bias effects on mechanical properties and high temperature oxidation performance of sputtered TiN-coated Zr-4

Abstract This study is aimed to investigate the influence of substrate bias on mechanical properties and high temperature oxidation of sputtered TiN coating which is prepared on the surface of Zr-4 alloy. The microstructures of coatings were characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The thicknesses of coatings were detected by examining the cross-sectional SEM image. The adhesion property was tested by using scratch testing. The residual stress was measured by using the XRD method. The tensile property was evaluated by standard tensile test. And the high temperature oxidation performance in air condition was also assessed. It was revealed that substrate bias has a significant influence on crystalline structure, surface micromorphology, thickness, adhesion strength, and residual stress. Nevertheless, tensile property and high temperature oxidation performance are affected by substrate bias indistinctively. From the cross-sectional SEM image, it can be found that thicker coating can be obtained in unit time with a lower substrate bias. The adhesion property does not vary monotonically with increasing negative substrate bias and the coating deposited with −100V possesses highest critical load. The sputtered TiN coatings demonstrate a compressive residual stress and the magnitude of residual stress of coatings prepared with −200V and −300V is higher than that of coatings prepared with −50V and −100V. The tensile test reveals that there is no obvious difference between tensile properties of TiN-coated specimens prepared with different substrate bias and the Zr-4 alloy specimen. And the weight gains of high temperature oxidation of TiN-coated specimens with different substrate bias are almost the same and are lower than uncoated Zr-4 alloy specimen. The XRD and EDS results show that TiN coating is oxidized and cracked and the internal Zr-4 substrate is also oxidized when the specimen is exposed to high temperature circumstance for a long time.