Microstructure and mechanical properties of CrN coating deposited by arc ion plating on Ti6Al4V substrate

CrN coatings have been grown by arc ion plating (AIP) onto Ti6Al4V alloy substrate at various nitrogen pressures (P-N2). The goals of this investigation are to study the influence of nitrogen pressure content on the composition, structure and mechanical properties of AIP CrN coatings, as well as their tribological properties. With an increase of P-N2, the main phases in the coatings changed from CrN + Cr2N + Cr to CrN, and the texture of CrN was transformed from CrN (111)-oriented to (220)-oriented. Furthermore, the multi-layers including a metal Cr layer, a Cr2N layer and a CrN layer were observed by cross-sectional TEM (XTEM), besides an unbalanced state transition layer at the interface of CrN/substrate which was analyzed by nucleation thermodynamics subsequently. An increase in nitrogen pressure also resulted in a change of micro-hardness due to the variation in composition and structure. Finally, the tribological properties of the Ti6Al4V substrate and the CrN/Ti6Al4V coating system have also been explored, which shows that CrN coatings can act as good wear resistance layer for Ti6Al4V substrate. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.