Nanocomposite Coating with TiAlN and Amorphous Carbon Phases Synthesized by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

TiAlCN coatings with various C contents were synthesized by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The characteristics, the crystalline structure, surface morphology, hardness, and friction coefficient of the coatings as a function of the C content were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), a microhardness tester, and a wear test. In addition, their corrosion behaviors in a deaerated 3.5 wt% NaCl solution at $40^{\circ}C$ were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization tests. The results indicated that the $Ti_{14.9}Al_{15.5}C_{30.7}N_{38.9}$ coating had the highest hardness, elastic modulus, and a plastic deformation resistance of 39 GPa, 359 GPa, and 0.55, respectively, and it also had the lowest friction coefficient of approximately 0.26. Comparative evaluation of the TiAlCN coatings indicated that a wide range of coating properties, especially coating hardness, could be obtained by the synthesis methods and processing variables. The microhardness of the coatings was much higher than that from previously reported coating using similar magnetron sputtering processes. It was almost as high as the microhardness measured from the TiAlCN coatings (~41 GPa) synthesized using an arc ion plating process. The potentiodynamic test showed that the corrosion resistance of the TiAlCN coatings was significantly better than the TiAlN coatings, and their corrosion current density ($i_{corr}$), corrosion potentials ($E_{corr}$) and corrosion rate decreased with an increasing C content in the coatings. The much denser microstructure of the coatings due to the increased amount of amorphous phase with increasing C contents in the coatings could result in the the improved corrosion resistance of the coatings.