Oxidation behavior of AlN/CrN multilayered hard coatings

Abstract

We report on the oxidation behavior of AlN/CrN multilayers at 900 °C, deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. It is shown that oxidation in this system is controlled by diffusion of Cr towards the surface and formation of Cr2O3. Cr diffusion is found to mainly occur along grain boundaries. Thus, coherent cubic AlN/CrN multilayer regions with coarse columnar grain structures are found to be oxidation resistant, whereas regions decomposed into hexagonal AlN/cubic CrN are prone to oxidation.