Effects of annealing temperatures on the morphological, mechanical, surface chemical bonding, and solar selectivity properties of sputtered TiAlSiN thin films

Quaternary sputtered TiAlSiN coatings were investigated for their high temperature structural stability, surface morphology, mechanical behaviors, surface chemical bonding states, solar absorptance and thermal emittance for possible solar selective surface applications. The TiAlSiN films were synthesized, via unbalanced magnetron sputtered technology, on AISI M2 steel substrate and annealed at 500 °C - 800 °C temperature range. SEM micrographs show nanocomposite-like structure with amorphous grain boundaries. Nanoindentation analyses indicate a decrease of hardness, plastic deformation and constant yield strength for the coatings. XPS analysis show mixed Ti, Al and Si nitride and oxide as main coating components but at 800 °C the top layer of the coatings is clearly composed of only Ti and Al oxides. Synchrotron radiation XRD (SR-XRD) results indicate various Ti, Al and Si nitride and oxide phases, for the above annealing temperature range with a phase change occurring with the Fe component of the substrate. UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy studies determined a high solar selectivity, s of 24.6 for the sample annealed at 600 °C. Overall results show good structural and morphological stability of these coatings at temperatures up to 800 °C with a very good solar selectivity for real world applications. •TiAlSiN sputtered coatings were characterized for solar selective applications.•In situ synchrotron radiation XRD were studies show the occurrence of multiple stable phases.•A high selectivity of 24.63 has been achieved for the coatings annealed at 700 °C.•Existence of XRD phases were also confirmed by XPS measurements.•At high temperature annealing the mechanical properties of films were governed by the utmost surfaces of the films.