Influence of incorporation of Cr and Y on the wear performance of TiAlN coatings at elevated temperatures

High temperature, wear-resistant coatings grown by combined steered arc/unb alanced magnetron deposition techniques were tribologically characterized. These coatings are improvements on TiAlN standard processes, including mult ilayering with CrN and incorporation of yttrium. Commercially available are -deposited coatings of TiN and TiAlN were taken as reference. Oscillatory s liding tribological tests were performed in the temperature range 400-900 d egrees C. This investigation demonstrates that these new coatings significa ntly outperform the commercial ones. Interestingly, the diffusion barrier e ffect of the incorporated yttrium becomes particularly important for testin g temperatures exceeding 800 degrees C. This property of TiAlCrYN makes thi s type of film extremely suitable for hard metal cutting operations, such a s dry machining of die steel. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights res erved.