Vanadium nitride (VN) coatings were deposited using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted sputtering at different ICP powers. Microstructural, crystallographic and mechanical characterizations were performed by FE-SEM, AFM, XRD and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP has significant effects on coating's microstructure, structural and mechanical properties of VN coatings. With an increase in ICP power, coating microstructure evolved from a porous columnar structure to a highly dense one. Single-phase cubic (FCC) VN coatings with different preferential orientations and residual stresses were obtained as a function of ICP power. Average crystal grain sizes of single phase cubic (FCC) VN coatings were decreased from 10.1 nm to 4.0 nm with an increase in ICP power. The maximum hardness of 28.2 GPa was obtained for the coatings deposited at ICP power of 200 W. The smoothest surface morphology with Ra roughness of 1.7 nm was obtained in the VN coating sputtered at ICP power of 200 W.
The phase diagram of the ZnO–Pr2O3 system with PrO1.83 contents from 0.5 to 98 mol% was studied via differential thermal analysis (DTA). The system ZnOPr2O3 showed a simple eutectic type of phase diagram with no solid solutions and no other compounds. The eutectic temperature was determined to be 1382 ± 5°C. The liquidus line near the eutectic point was determined by a quenching method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.