Structural and Mechanical Properties of Zr-Si-N Coatings Deposited by Arc Evaporation at Different Substrate Bias Voltages

ZrN and Zr-Si-N coatings were formed using vacuum-arc plasma fluxes deposition system at the substrate bias voltage (U_B) ranged from − 50 to − 220 V on HS6-5-2 steel substrates. The structural, mechanical and tribological properties were characterized using x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, nanoindentation and ball-on-disk test. The surface roughness parameter Ra of ZrN coatings is lower than Zr-Si-N coatings. Both roughness Ra of Zr-Si-N coatings and the number of surface defects with mainly small dimensions to 1 µm decrease with increasing negative substrate bias voltage. The addition of silicon to ZrN significantly reduces the crystallite size, from about 18.3 nm for ZrN coating to 6.4 nm for Zr-Si-N coating both deposited at the same U_B = − 100 V and 7.8 nm for U_B = − 150 V. The hardness of Zr-Si-N coatings increases to about 30 GPa with the increase in negative substrate bias voltage (U_B = − 220 V). Adhesion of the coatings tested is high, and critical load is above 80 N and reduces with U_B increase. Coefficient of friction determined using AFM shows similar trend as surface roughness in microscale.