Influence of pulse frequency on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Ti-V-Cu-N coatings deposited by HIPIMS

Abstract

As an important parameter of HIPIMS, pulse frequency has significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the deposited coatings, especially for the multi-component coatings deposited by using a spliced target with different metal sputtering yields. In this study, a single Al67Ti33-V-Cu spliced target was designed to prepare Al-Ti-V-Cu-N coatings by using high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS). The results showed that the peak target current density decreased from 0.75 to 0.24 A•cm −2 as the pulse frequency increased, along with the microstructure transferred from dense structure to coarse column structure. The pulse frequency has significant influence on chemical compositions of Al-Ti-V-Cu-N coatings, especially for Cu content increasing from 6.2 to 11.7 at.%. All the coatings exhibited a single solid-solution phase of Ti-Al-V-N, and the preferred orientation changed from (111) to (220) when the pulse frequency increased above 200 Hz. The decrease in peak target current density at high pulse frequencies resulted in a sharp decrease in the coating hardness from 35.2 to 16.4 GPa, whereas the relaxation of compressive residual stress contributed to an improvement in adhesion strength from 43.3 to 79.6 N.

A study of the electrical and optical properties of AZO thin film by controlling pulse frequency of HiPIMS

“…The varying intensity of diffraction peak at different pulse frequencies was also observed, showing that the peak of (103) plane increased at the higher frequency. Additionally, the shift in diffraction peak was found which was attributed to the change of residual stress in thin film inducing by the reduced ion bombardment at high pulse frequency [ 28,29] . In contrast, the peak of (002) plane was slightly decreased.…”

Frequency Effect on the Structure and Properties of Mo-Zr-Si-B Coatings Deposited by HIPIMS Using a Composite SHS Target

“…As the pulse frequency increased from 10 to 50 and 200 Hz, the boron concentration rose 1.7-1.8-fold and the zirconium concentration increased 3.2-and 3.8-fold, respectively. This phenomenon can be attributed to the reduction in the peak target current at high-pulse frequencies [21]. A similar change in concentration can take place due to the difference in atom-scattering energy during sputtering [28].…”

“…The mechanical properties, wear resistance, and high-temperature oxidation resistance of coatings are improved due to the increased structure density and adhesion strength [20]. The structure and properties of HIPIMS coatings can be controlled by varying the deposition parameters, such as the current and pulse frequency [21,22]. Nedfors [22] studied the effect of pulse frequency on the mechanical properties of Ti-B coatings.…”

Simulation of a wide-aperture electron accelerator based on ion-electron emission in repetitively pulsed mode

“…Recently, the use of a modern element base has made it possible to create discharge power supplies with a transition from the continuous mode of generating an auxiliary discharge to a pulsed mode with a pulse repetition rate at the level of a few to tens of kHz [8]. This allows more flexible adjustment of the discharge parameters, keeping the average value of its current, but changing its amplitude with a corresponding change in the duty cycle of the pulses.…”