Investigation of adhesive behavior of Ti-Al-N/Ti-Al multilayers by scratch testing

The mechanical properties and adhesive behavior of magnetron sputtered Ti-Al-N/Ti-Al multilayers were studied by nanoindentation and scratch testing in comparison with single-layer Ti-Al-N coatings. The critical scratch loads were identified by monitoring the coating failure using the acoustic emission technique and fluctuations of the coefficient of friction with the following confirmation by optical microscopy. It was shown that the failure resistance of Ti-Al-N/Ti-Al multilayer coatings can be substantially improved by means of optimization of their architecture in order to provide the optimal combination of hardness, stiffness and toughness.