Synthesis and Troblogical Properties of Zr-B-N Coatings by High Power Impulse and Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering

The Zr-B-N nanocomposite coatings were synthesized by high power impulse magnetron sputtering combined with pulsed DC magnetron sputtering.The influence of the ZrB₂ target power on the microstructures, interfacial adhesion and tribological properties was investigated with X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and conventional mechanical probes.The results show that the target power has a major impact.To be specific, the coatings comprised the nano-particles embedded in amorphous a-BN; as the power increased, the hardness decreased rapidly from 36.76 GPa to a constant about 16.1 GPa; the interfacial adhesion fluctuated, with valleys and peaks of 29.28 and 43.85 N, respectively; the average friction coefficient and wear-rate changed in an increase-decrease mode, in 0.4~0.6 kW range.Deposited at 0.8 kW, the Zr-B-N coating displayed the lowest friction-coefficient and strongest wear-resistance.