The effect of preferred orientation on the mechanical properties of chromium nitride coatings deposited on SKD11 by unbalanced magnetron sputtering

Chromium nitride coatings exhibit good mechanical, corrosion and oxidation protection properties and can have various orientations. Preferred orientations of CrN(200) and Cr 2N(111) were successfully deposited on SKD11 by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. To compare with different orientations, several mechanical properties of deposited films were studied, e.g. hardness, adhesion and wear behavior. The structural characterization and surface morphology were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The chemical composition and stoichiometry were determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The cross-section morphology of CrN coating is a columnar structure and Cr 2N is a denser structure. Of the two orientations CrN(200) and Cr 2N(111), CrN(200) possesses stronger adhesion and lower hardness.