Microstructure, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of Amorphous WB2/Ti Multilayer Coatings

doi:10.1007/s40195-023-01535-6

Abstract

Abstract:

Amorphous WB₂/Ti multilayer coatings with different modulation ratios (1, 5, 15, and 30) and different bilayer numbers (10, 20, 30, 50, and 70) were deposited by direct-current magnetron sputtering. The effect of modulation ratio and bilayer number on the microstructure, mechanical, and tribological properties of WB₂/Ti multilayer coatings was studied systematically. In the investigation for the influence of modulation ratio, the hardness of the multilayer coatings increases with the increment of modulation ratio. The indentation toughness shows a different changing tendency compared to that of the hardness with different modulation ratios. The wear rates of the multilayer coatings with different modulation ratios are at the same level with the influence of both hardness and indentation toughness. In the investigation for the influence of bilayer number, both hardness and indentation toughness increase first and then decrease with an increasing bilayer number. WB₂/Ti multilayer coating with a modulation ratio of 5 and bilayer number of 50 exhibits the highest hardness of 20.4 GPa and lowest wear rate of 1.76 × 10⁻¹⁶ m³/Nm. In addition, the hardness strengthening mechanism and wear mechanism of the multilayer coatings were discussed in detail.

Key words: Magnetron sputtering, WB₂/Ti multilayer, Mechanical properties, Tribological properties

Wenhe Li, Wenshuang Gu, Yuqiu Chen, Jun Gong, Zhiliang Pei, Chao Sun. Microstructure, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of Amorphous WB₂/Ti Multilayer Coatings[J]. Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters), 2023, 36(8): 1385-1396.

Figures/Tables 16

Table 1 Deposition time of WB2/Ti multilayer coatings

Target	Deposition time in one bilayer (s)
Target	S1	S2	S3	S4
WB₂	148	246	301	306
Ti	1125	375	141	73
	S21	S22	S23	S24
WB₂	123	82	49	35
Ti	188	125	75	54

Table 2 Average values of modulation ratio, bilayer number, H, E, and wear rate (W) of multilayer WB2/Ti coatings

No.	Modulation ratio	Bilayer number	H (GPa)	E (GPa)	K_IC (MPa∙m^1/2)	W (× 10⁻¹⁶ m³/Nm)
S1	1	10	13.9 ± 0.8	193.1 ± 10.2	2.00 ± 0.29	4.73 ± 1.68
S2	5	10	15.8 ± 0.8	203.5 ± 6.2	1.73 ± 0.27	3.38 ± 0.50
S3	15	10	17.9 ± 0.5	230.1 ± 8.1	1.50 ± 0.19	3.70 ± 0.72
S4	30	10	19.2 ± 0.6	254.1 ± 10.0	1.30 ± 0.11	2.96 ± 0.58
S21	5	20	17.0 ± 0.5	220.6 ± 6.1	1.94 ± 0.23	2.62 ± 0.65
S22	5	30	17.9 ± 0.5	235.6 ± 9.8	1.97 ± 0.25	2.52 ± 0.87
S23	5	50	20.4 ± 0.5	256.7 ± 8.9	2.14 ± 0.17	1.76 ± 0.24
S24	5	70	11.8 ± 0.4	156.7 ± 5.1	1.20 ± 0.21	105.76 ± 15.51

Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of Vickers indentation

Fig. 2 XRD patterns of S1, S2, S4, and S24

Fig. 3 Cross-sectional morphologies of the WB2/Ti multilayer coatings: a S1, b S2, c S3, d S4, e S21, f S22, g S23, h S24, i partial enlarged image of S24

Fig. 4 Hardness and Young’s modulus of S1-S4 as a function of modulation ratio

Fig. 5 Relationship between indentation toughness and hardness of S1-S4 with different modulation ratios

Fig. 6 Hardness and Young’s modulus of S2, S21, S22, S23, and S24 as a function of bilayer number and relationship between hardness and τ−1/2

Fig. 7 Relationship between indentation toughness and hardness of S2, S21, S22, S23, and S24 with different bilayer numbers

Fig. 8 Friction coefficient curves of S1, S2, S3, and S4 as a function of sliding time

Fig. 9 Wear rate, average friction coefficient, and cross-sectional profile of the wear tracks for S1, S2, S3, and S4

Fig. 10 Wear track morphologies of a S1; b S2; c S3; d S4 and enlarged images of e S1; f S2; g S3; h S4

Fig. 11 Friction coefficient curves of S2, S21, S22, S23, and S24 as a function of sliding time

Fig. 12 Wear rate, average friction coefficient, and cross-sectional profile of the wear tracks for S2, S21, S22, S23, and S24

Fig. 13 Wear track morphologies of a S21; b S22; c S23; d S24, and enlarged images of e S21; f S22; g S23; h S24

Fig. 14 Schematic diagram of wear mechanism of WB2/Ti multilayer coatings

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Microstructure, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of Amorphous WB₂/Ti Multilayer Coatings

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