Nitride-based hard coatings have attracted increasing interest over the last
decades for machining, and cutting tool applications, owing to their high hardness, high
thermal stability, good wear, and corrosion resistance. In this work, we investigated the
effect of nitrogen concentration, as a reactive gas, on the structure and properties of Zr-N coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering. The structural and morphological
properties of Zr-N films were described, followed by a detailed investigation of the
mechanical properties of Zr-N coatings. By varying the nitrogen percentage, the
structure and the hardness of Zr-N films were evaluated in a wide range. With a rising
N2
percentage, the structure changed from Zr2N at 10% N2
to a mixture of Zr2N and Zr
N from 20%N2
with the NaClB1
-type structure. Insertion of nitrogen atoms on the Zr
leads to significant changes in film microstructure, grain size, and surface morphology,
as evidenced by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron and atom. The hardness of the
films was first augmented by increasing the nitrogen percentage and take a maximum
value was 22 GPa for the films deposited under 20%N2
then decreased.
Keywords: Hard coating, Magnetron sputtering, Microstructure, Nitride, PVD, Reactive gas, Steel, Thin films, Zr-N.
