Microstructure, Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Advanced Layered WN/MeN (Me = Zr, Cr, Mo, Nb) Nanocomposite Coatings
Kateryna Smyrnova,
Martin Sahul,
Marián Haršáni,
Alexander Pogrebnjak,
Volodymyr Ivashchenko,
Vyacheslav Beresnev,
Vyacheslav Stolbovoy,
Ľubomír Čaplovič,
Mária Čaplovičová,
Ľubomír Vančo,
Martin Kusý,
Alexey Kassymbaev,
Leonid Satrapinskyy,
Dominik Flock
Affiliations
Kateryna Smyrnova
Department of Nanoelectronics and Surface Modification, Sumy State University, Rymskogo-Korsakova 2, 40007 Sumy, Ukraine
Martin Sahul
Institute of Materials Science, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Jána Bottu 25, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia
Marián Haršáni
Research and Development Department, Staton, s.r.o., Sadová 1148, 038 53 Turany, Slovakia
Alexander Pogrebnjak
Department of Nanoelectronics and Surface Modification, Sumy State University, Rymskogo-Korsakova 2, 40007 Sumy, Ukraine
Volodymyr Ivashchenko
Institute for Problems of Material Science, NAS of Ukraine, Krzhizhanovsky 3, 03142 Kyiv, Ukraine
Vyacheslav Beresnev
Department of Materials for Reactor Building and Physical Technologies, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Svobody Sq. 4, 61022 Kharkiv, Ukraine
Vyacheslav Stolbovoy
Laboratory of Development and Research of Intensive Ion-Plasma Technologies, National Science Center Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, Akademichna 1, 61108 Kharkiv, Ukraine
Ľubomír Čaplovič
Institute of Materials Science, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Jána Bottu 25, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia
Mária Čaplovičová
Centre for Nanodiagnostics of Materials, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Vazovova 5, 812 43 Bratislava, Slovakia
Ľubomír Vančo
Centre for Nanodiagnostics of Materials, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Vazovova 5, 812 43 Bratislava, Slovakia
Martin Kusý
Institute of Materials Science, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Jána Bottu 25, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia
Alexey Kassymbaev
Center of Advanced Development “VERITAS”, D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan State Technical University, Protozanova 69, Ust-Kamenogorsk 070004, Kazakhstan
Leonid Satrapinskyy
Department of Experimental Physics, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina F2, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovakia
Dominik Flock
Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Ilmenau University of Technology, Gustav-Kirchhoff Str. 1, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany
Due to the increased demands for drilling and cutting tools working at extreme machining conditions, protective coatings are extensively utilized to prolong the tool life and eliminate the need for lubricants. The present work reports on the effect of a second MeN (Me = Zr, Cr, Mo, Nb) layer in WN-based nanocomposite multilayers on microstructure, phase composition, and mechanical and tribological properties. The WN/MoN multilayers have not been studied yet, and cathodic-arc physical vapor deposition (CA-PVD) has been used to fabricate studied coating systems for the first time. Moreover, first-principles calculations were performed to gain more insight into the properties of deposited multilayers. Two types of coating microstructure with different kinds of lattices were observed: (i) face-centered cubic (fcc) on fcc-W2N (WN/CrN and WN/ZrN) and (ii) a combination of hexagonal and fcc on fcc-W2N (WN/MoN and WN/NbN). Among the four studied systems, the WN/NbN had superior properties: the lowest specific wear rate (1.7 × 10−6 mm3/Nm) and high hardness (36 GPa) and plasticity index H/E (0.93). Low surface roughness, high elastic strain to failure, Nb2O5 and WO3 tribofilms forming during sliding, ductile behavior of NbN, and nanocomposite structure contributed to high tribological performance. The results indicated the suitability of WN/NbN as a protective coating operating in challenging conditions.
