Hardness and adhesion of the reactively sputtered Zr-ZrN on the stainless steel(SUS304) and tool steel(SKH9)

스테인레스와 공구강 위에 스퍼터링된 Zr-ZrN 코팅층의 경도 및 밀착성에 대한 연구

Adhesion and hardeness are the most important properties of a hard coated layer which is applied to wear-resistant devices. Zr/ZrN layer was deposited on tool steel(SKH9) and stainless steel(SUS304) by a re-active D.C. magnetron sputtering technique and their microhardness and adhesion strength were measured for the films processed by changing the partial pressures of $N_2$ gas (4~10$\times$$10^{-4}$mbar) and the substrate bias voltage(0~250V). The adhesion strength was evaluated by acoustic signals through the scratch-test with the incremental applied load. As the partial pressure of $N_2$ gas and the substrate bias voltage were increased, the adhesion strength of tool steel was observed to be stronger than that of the stainless steel. The adhesion strength was generally, observed to decrease with the same tendency regardless of the kinds of substrates. The adhesion strength of tool steel was increased more and more strongly than that of stainless steel as heat-treated temperature was increased. The strength of tool steel was appeared to be high adhesion strength at $400^{\circ}C$. From the failure mode of the film during the scratch adhesion test, the cohesive failure was observed to be obvious and the adhesive failure in a minor portion in the Zr/ZrN doublelayer regardless of the kinds of substrates.