Tunable TiZrMoC Coatings: A Comprehensive Study of Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Wear Resistance

Alexander Pogrebnjak; Volodymyr Buranych; Volodymyr Ivashchenko; Svitlana Borba-Pogrebnjak; Olga Maksakova; Maria Caplovicová; Alexander Goncharov; Alexei Onoprienko; Petro Skrynskyy; Martin Sahul; Piotr Konarski; Piotr Budzynski; Mariusz Kaminski; Marek Opielak; Dominik Flock; Vasiliy Pelenovich; Yang Bing

doi:10.3390/nano14241986

Tunable TiZrMoC Coatings: A Comprehensive Study of Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Wear Resistance

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Dec 11;14(24):1986. doi: 10.3390/nano14241986.

Authors

Alexander Pogrebnjak^{1

2}, Volodymyr Buranych², Volodymyr Ivashchenko³, Svitlana Borba-Pogrebnjak¹, Olga Maksakova², Maria Caplovicová⁴, Alexander Goncharov^{1

2}, Alexei Onoprienko³, Petro Skrynskyy³, Martin Sahul², Piotr Konarski⁵, Piotr Budzynski⁶, Mariusz Kaminski⁶, Marek Opielak⁷, Dominik Flock⁸, Vasiliy Pelenovich^{9

10}, Yang Bing¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Research Centre, Sumy State University, 116, Kharkivska St., 40007 Sumy, Ukraine.
² Institute of Materials Science, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, Slovak University of Technology, J. Bottu 25, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia.
³ Frantsevich Institute for Problems of Materials Sciences, NAS of Ukraine, Krzhyzhanovsky 3, 03142 Kyiv, Ukraine.
⁴ Centre for Nanodiagnostics of Materials, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Vazovova 5, 812 43 Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁵ Łukasiewicz Research Network-Tele and Radio Research Institute, 11, Ratuszowa St., 03-450 Warsaw, Poland.
⁶ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka Str. 36, 20-618 Lublin, Poland.
⁷ Faculty of Transportation and Information Technology, WSEI University, 4, Projektowa Str., 20-209 Lublin, Poland.
⁸ Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Ilmenau University of Technology, Gustav-Kirchhoff Str. 1, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany.
⁹ Hubei Key Laboratory of Electronic Manufacturing and Packaging Integration, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
¹⁰ Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
¹¹ School of Power & Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.

Abstract

TiZrMoC coatings were deposited on Si(100) substrates using a DC dual magnetron sputtering. The composition was controlled by adjusting the sputtering parameters of the TiZrMo and graphite targets. The influence of graphite target current on the resulting coating properties was explored. TEM analysis revealed a single-phase structure with Ti/Mo/Zr substitutional elements, columnar grains, and a strong [111] texture. Nanotwins and stacking faults were prevalent within the nanocrystals. EDX, SIMS, XRD, and XPS analyses confirmed the elemental composition and nanostructure. Computational modeling was employed to investigate the mixing behavior of the quaternary solid solutions depending on the valency electron concentration. The films exhibited exceptional mechanical properties, including a maximum hardness of 35 GPa and a wear rate of 2.11 × 10^-7 mm³N^-1m^-1, attributed to the presence of an amorphous carbon layer and optimized deposition parameters. These findings demonstrate the potential of TiZrMoC coatings for advanced applications requiring exceptional wear resistance and durability.

Keywords: TiZrMoC coatings; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; computational modeling; dual DC magnetron sputtering; nanostructure.

Abstract

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