Effect of substrate temperature on structural, mechanical and tribological properties of TiN films deposited with magnetron sputtering method

Titanium nitride (TiN) hard films, which significantly increase the hardness and wear resistance of the cutting tools, are widely used in many areas of the industry by coated them on the surface of many different substrates using various deposition methods. In this study, TiN films were coated on the surface of D2 cold work tool steel at different substrate temperatures using magnetron sputtering method. The effects of different substrate temperatures were investigated on the structural, mechanical and tribological properties of TiN films. SEM and XRD were used to determine the structural properties of the films and the microhardness tester was carried out to calculate the hardness value. Scratch tester and pin-on-disc tribometer were used to determine the adhesion and wear properties of the films, respectively. The increasing film thickness and smaller particle size were observed with the increase of the substrate temperature. TiN films has significantly increased the surface hardness of D2 cold work tool steel. The hardness, adhesion and wear resistance of TiN films increased significantly with the increasing substrate temperature.