Mechanical behavior of TiN/TiC multilayer coatings fabricated by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition on AISI H13 hot work tool steel

In the present paper, mechanical properties of multilayer coatings were investigated. Titanium nitride/titanium carbide (TiN/TiC) multilayer coatings were prepared on the surface of AISI H13 hot work tool steel by the pulsed-DC plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD). The microhardness, the toughness, the wear loss and the friction coefficient were measured by the Knoop and the Vickers hardness test and the pin on disk wear test. The optical microscopy was also used to examine worn surfaces and to characterize wear mechanisms. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and the grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) were applied to study the crystalline structure of multilayer coatings. Multilayer coatings with 10 layers exhibited lower friction coefficient (as 0.2), lower wear loss and higher toughness (17.7 MPa·m1/2) than those values in other multilayer coatings. Increasing the number of layers increased the microhardness, the fracture toughness and the wear resistance with respect to single-layer coatings.