Effect of bias voltage on TiAlSiN nanocomposite coatings deposited by HiPIMS

TiAlSiN nanocomposite coatings were deposited onto cemented carbide (WC-10 wt.%, Co) substrates by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). The effect of substrate bias voltage on plasma discharge characterization of HiPIMS, element concentration, deposition rate, microstructure, surface/cross-sectional morphology, hardness and adhesion strength of coatings were studied. Compared with those deposited with direct current magnetic sputtering (DCMS), HiPIMS-deposited TiAlSiN coatings show improvements in some properties, including the surface roughness, the grain size, the hardness and adhesion strength, but a decrease in the deposition rate. When the bias voltage increases, the discharge current rose up from 118A to 165A. HiPIMS-deposited TiAlSiN coatings show a shift of the preferred crystallographic orientation from (220) to (200) and decreases in surface roughness from 14.1 nm down to 7.4 nm and grain size from 10.5 nm to 7.4 nm. Meanwhile, a change in crystal morphology from columnar to equiaxial and a grain refinement, as well as an increase of hardness from 30 GPa up to 42 GPa of those TiAlSiN coatings were observed with the increasing bias voltage and a decrease in adhesion strength from HF2 to HF5 of those coatings were revealed by indentation adhesion test.