Influence of annealing on the structural-phase state and physical-mechanical properties of vacuum-arc TiN coatings applied to 90CrSi steel

The effect of annealing at 350–500 °C on the structural-phase state, nanohardness, elastic modulus and critical peel load Lc of vacuum-arc TiN coatings deposited on a substrate made of pre-annealed 90CrSi steel was investigated. It has been established that the coating contains TiN and Ti phases. The nanohardness of the coating is 29 GPa, and the elastic modulus is 485 GPa. It was concluded that the increased values of the nanohardness and coating elastic modulus are associated with the presence of a large number of crystal lattice defects in it. It is shown that as the annealing temperature of the coating increases from 350 to 500 °C, the values of the nanohardness and elastic modulus of TiN coatings decrease, while an increase in the crystal lattice parameter, as well as a decrease in the dislocation density and TiN dispersion are recorded. An increase in the crystal lattice parameter of TiN during annealing of the coating is associated with the formation of vacancy complexes in it. It was found that as a result of annealing TiN coatings, the peeling load increases from 12.8 to 21.1 N. It was concluded that the increase in the peeling load of the coating during annealing is associated with the formation of an oxide film, which prevents the nucleation (generation) of dislocations during the introduction and movement of the indenter in the coating and, thus, slows down the formation of microcracks at the boundary of the coating and the substrate.

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