Hardness and Oxidation Resistance of Ti0.33Al0.67N/CrN Nano-multilayered Superlattice Coatings

$Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N/CrN$ nano-multilayers, which are known to have excellent wear resistance, were prepared using an unbalanced magnetron sputter to have various periods of 2-5 nm. $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N$ had a hexagonal structure in a single layer, but converted to a cubic structure by forming a multilayer with CrN, which has a cubic structure. Thus, $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N$ formed a superlattice in the multilayer. The $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}/CrN$ multilayer with a period of 2.5 nm greatly exceeded the hardness of the $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N$ and the CrN single layer, reaching 39 GPa. According to the low angle X-ray diffraction results, the $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N/CrN$ multilayer maintained its as-coated structure to a temperature as high as $700^{\circ}C$ and exhibited hardness of 30 GPa. The thickness of the oxide layer of the $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N/CrN$ multilayered coating was less than one-tenth of those of the single layers. Thus, $Ti_{0.33}Al_{0.67}N/CrN$ multilayered coating had hardness and oxidation resistance far superior to those of its constituent single layers.