1 Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Superhard Coating and Equipment, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China 2 School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, China
Abstract: To combine the high hardness and wear resistance of TiN and TiC coating with the self-lubricating and corrosion resistance of carbon coating. In this study, ternary nc-Ti(C, N) and nc-Ti(C, N)/a-C composite coating was synthesized through the cathodic arc and glow discharge technology. The effects of C content and characteristics on the microstructure, mechanical performance, tribological properties, and electroche-mical behavior of TiCN coatings were studied by SEM, XRD, Raman, XPS, nano-indenter, tribometer, and electrochemical workstation. The results show that with the increase of C content, the polycrystalline phase structure of TiN, TiC, and TiCxN1-x changes to polycrystalline/amorphous structure. With the C content of 43.85at%, amorphous components were precipitated to form the composite structure of TiN, TiC, TiCxN1-x, sp2-C, and sp3-C. As C content increased, the nano hardness (H), elastic modulus (E),H/E, and H3/E2 of the coating were initially increased and then decreased, the coating has the highest hardness and the best toughness with a C content of 43.85at%. With the C content of 65.16at%, the TiCN coating showed a low friction coefficient of about less than 0.1 because of the high content of sp2-C and sp3-C. nc-Ti(C, N)/a-C composite structure significantly improved the electrochemical corrosion properties of the TiCN coating. When the C content is 43.85at%, the highest corrosion potential and the lowest corrosion current density of the TiCN coating are -0.108 VSCE and 8.55×10-10 A/cm2 respectively. The combination of hard phases with graphite-like and amorphous structures can further strengthen the mechanical and frictional properties of the coatings. The better corrosion resistance of nc-Ti(C, N)/a-C composite coatings is mainly attributed to the dense nanocrystalline/amorphous structure and inert amorphous composition of the coatings.
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