The effect of different annealing temperatures on the mechanical and tribological properties of the Ti₂AlN MAX phase films

Abstract

Ti2AlN MAX phase films produced at different N2 flow rates and different annealing temperatures were deposited on 52100 steel substrates using the closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. N2 flow rates were changed to 2, 3.5, and 5 sccm. Due to the increasing N2 flow rate, film thickness decreased from 2 to 1.3 µm. Then the produced films were subjected to annealing at temperatures of 700, 750, and 800°C. After the film produced at a flow rate of 2 sccm was annealed at 750°C, the presence of the Ti2AlN MAX phase was determined. The binding energies of Ti 2p, Al 2p, and N 1s determined in the XPS analysis confirmed the existence of the Ti2AlN film. The friction coefficient measured for Ti2AlN MAX phase films was calculated as 0.53, the hardness value as 22.8 GPa, the elastic modulus as 291.4 GPa, and the wear rate as 2.96 × 10−4 mm3/(N·m).