Effects of nitrogen content on microstructure and mechanical properties of DC magnetron sputtered Cr-Mn-Mo-Si-Y-(N) high entropy coatings

Vrána, Lukáš and Stasiak, Tomasz and Fekete, Matej and Buršíková, Vilma and Czigány, Zsolt and Balázsi, Katalin and Souček, Pavel (2025) Effects of nitrogen content on microstructure and mechanical properties of DC magnetron sputtered Cr-Mn-Mo-Si-Y-(N) high entropy coatings. SURFACE AND COATINGS TECHNOLOGY, 497. No. 131742. ISSN 0257-8972

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Abstract

This study investigates Cr-Mn-Mo-Si-Y-(N) high-entropy alloy and high-entropy nitride coatings, combining strong and weak nitride-forming elements with large atomic radii differences. The coatings are deposited using reactive DC magnetron sputtering in an Ar/N2 atmosphere. The research examines the effects of varying N2 flow rates, substrate temperatures, and bias. The coatings are stabilized by nitrogen vacancies as N content saturated under 45 at.%. It is observed that bias does not influence chemical composition or structure. Nanostructure analysis reveals that coatings are composed of Cr-Mo-rich with nanocrystallites and amorphous Si-Mn-rich nanolayers. Crystallization occurs in coatings that contain at least 40 at.%. of N and are deposited at 580°C. The mechanical properties improve with nitrogen incorporation and 580°C substrate temperature, achieving peak hardness and reduced modulus of 15.5 and 195.1GPa, respectively. Elastic HIT/Er and plastic HIT3/Er2 deformation parameters reach values up to 0.09 and 0.12GPa, respectively. The results suggest that the high content of Mn, which is a weak nitride former, and the lattice distortion caused by Si and Y, hindered long-range ordering. The study highlights that nitrogen content strongly governs the properties of high-entropy nitride coatings, offering first insights into this novel material system.

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