The influence of nitrogen pressure on the fabrication of the two-phase superhard nanocomposite (TiZrNbAlYCr)N coatings

•(TiZrNbAlYCr)N coatings based on high-entropy alloy were fabricated.•Effect of nitrogen pressure on the phase composition was investigated.•Coatings fabricated at certain conditions demonstrated the superhard state. The multicomponent nitride coatings from TiZrNbAlYCr high entropy alloy (HEA) were fabricated using the vacuum-arc method. The effect of nitrogen pressure on the crystallite size, elemental and phase composition of (TiZrNbAlYCr)N coatings was investigated. A bias voltage applied to the substrate during the deposition process was −200 V. The partial nitrogen pressure was 0.05 Pa, 0.27 Pa, and 0.5 Pa. Body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice with crystallites of 15 nm in size was formed at the lowest pressure. An increase in the pressure led to the formation of the two-phase structure: BCC phase with crystallite size of 15 nm and face-centered cubic (FCC) phase with crystallite size of about 3.5 nm. The same two-phase state was found in coatings fabricated at 0.5 Pa, while the mean crystallite size was 7 nm. The maximum hardness of the deposited coatings was about 47 GPa.