The formation of Ti-Al-N based coatings on steels by thermo reactive diffusion technique and investigation of their properties

Key Words: Thin film coatings, TiN, TiAlN, Wear, Corrosion, Oxidation, Thermo Reactive Diffusion (TRD)In the present study, the titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN) based coatings was tried to form on the surface of the AISI D2 cold work tool steel by thermo reactive diffusion (TRD) technic. For this purpose, AISI D2 steel was pre-nitrided by gas nitriding process for the formation of Fe3N phases on the steel samples at 575 °C for 8 hours. Two different methods were used for the diffusion of Ti and Al elements into the nitrided layers. First of them is the stepped method which includes aluminizing and then titanizing treatments. Second of them is the co-deposition of Ti and Al on the steel samples in the same bath. In the present study, co-deposition process was selected for TiAlN based coatings as a result of microstructural, mechanical and phase analysis of the coated layers produced by per methods. The bath consists of ferro titanium and Al for metallic element supplier, ammonium chloride as an activator, naphthalene for de-oxidation and alumina as a filler material. For the optimization of the bath composition for the determining of the best TiAlN based coatings, aluminum was added into bath composition by 1%, 3%, 5%, 7% and 10%wt. It was decided that the bath composition which includes 7% Al by weight as a result of the investigation (optical, SM-EDS, XRD, micro-hardness) of the produced coatings on the steel samples for all bath compositions.The wear test of uncoated, nitrided, titanium nitride coated and titanium aluminum nitride coated AISI D2 cold work tool steel was realized at the sliding speeds of 0,1 m/s, 0,3 m/s and 0,5 m/s under the loads of 2,5N, 5N and 10N for 200 m sliding distance against silicon nitride ball. The ball-on-disc wear test was used for the samples. The wear test results showed that the friction coefficients and the wear rates of TiN and TiAlN coated steels are much lower than that of the uncoated and nitrided steel samples.The corrosion properties of uncoated, nitrided, titanium nitride coated and titanium aluminum nitride coated AISI D2 steel were examined by galvanostat-potentiostat instrument using three electrode technic in 0,5M NaCl, 0,5M H2SO4 and 0,5M H3BO3 solutions to determine the, corrosion current (IKor), corrosion potential (EKor) and polarization resistance (Rp). The corrosion resistance of TiAlN and coatings was higher than that of uncoated and nitrided steels for all environments.Oxidation tests of TiAlN coated steel was realized at 600oC, 700oC and 800°C temperatures for 25 hours in an open atmosphere in the electric resistance furnace. The base material was protected against the effects of temperature at 600oC and 700oC by coating layer. Increase in the oxidation temperature caused to the decrease of the oxidation resistance of the coating layers.