Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions
Elemental composition design is a common strategy for tuning the crystallographic structure of films, thereby optimizing their mechanical properties. The evolution of film structure is highly dependent on both selection and concentration of cation and anion elements. In this work, we utilized strong...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Materials Research and Technology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785424029375 |
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| author | Yiming Ruan Jigang Xie Lin He Fugui Zhang Jie Shi Hengning Hu Yun Chen Rui Shu Liuquan Yang Hao Du |
| author_facet | Yiming Ruan Jigang Xie Lin He Fugui Zhang Jie Shi Hengning Hu Yun Chen Rui Shu Liuquan Yang Hao Du |
| author_sort | Yiming Ruan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Elemental composition design is a common strategy for tuning the crystallographic structure of films, thereby optimizing their mechanical properties. The evolution of film structure is highly dependent on both selection and concentration of cation and anion elements. In this work, we utilized strong nitride-forming elements (Hf, Nb, Zr, and Ta) and the weak nitride-forming element Mo as the metallic cations in a multi-principal element nitride system. The nitrogen content in the (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx film was manipulated by varying the N2/Ar flow ratio (RN) during reactive magnetron sputtering. The results showed that the HfMoNbZrTa metallic film crystallized weakly into a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure, yielding a hardness (H) of approximately 10.7 ± 0.2 GPa. The incorporation of nitrogen immediately induced a transformation from BCC to a face-centered cubic (FCC) predominated multi-phase structure at substoichiometric regimes (10% ≤ RN ≤ 20%). A further increase of RN to ≥25%, i.e., at near-stoichiometric regimes, resulted in the formation of single-phase FCC structure. Hardness and wear rates both reached their optimal values at RN = 20–25%. The strengthening mechanism was elucidated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which suggest that higher H of the substoichiometric film is mainly associated with the increased local lattice distortion and the formation of a multi-phase structure. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6c0cb8cb984f426fb53e20ee72e9b976 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2238-7854 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Materials Research and Technology |
| spelling | doaj-art-6c0cb8cb984f426fb53e20ee72e9b9762025-01-19T06:25:35ZengElsevierJournal of Materials Research and Technology2238-78542025-01-013412651274Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositionsYiming Ruan0Jigang Xie1Lin He2Fugui Zhang3Jie Shi4Hengning Hu5Yun Chen6Rui Shu7Liuquan Yang8Hao Du9School of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR ChinaChengdu Tool Research Institute CO., Ltd., Chengdu, 610500, PR ChinaChengdu Tool Research Institute CO., Ltd., Chengdu, 610500, PR ChinaChengdu Tool Research Institute CO., Ltd., Chengdu, 610500, PR ChinaDepartment of Science and Technology, Linköping University, SE-60174, Norrköping, SwedenSchool of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UKSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Public Big Data, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR China; Corresponding author. School of Mechanical Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, PR China.hdu3@gzu.edu.cnElemental composition design is a common strategy for tuning the crystallographic structure of films, thereby optimizing their mechanical properties. The evolution of film structure is highly dependent on both selection and concentration of cation and anion elements. In this work, we utilized strong nitride-forming elements (Hf, Nb, Zr, and Ta) and the weak nitride-forming element Mo as the metallic cations in a multi-principal element nitride system. The nitrogen content in the (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx film was manipulated by varying the N2/Ar flow ratio (RN) during reactive magnetron sputtering. The results showed that the HfMoNbZrTa metallic film crystallized weakly into a body-centered cubic (BCC) structure, yielding a hardness (H) of approximately 10.7 ± 0.2 GPa. The incorporation of nitrogen immediately induced a transformation from BCC to a face-centered cubic (FCC) predominated multi-phase structure at substoichiometric regimes (10% ≤ RN ≤ 20%). A further increase of RN to ≥25%, i.e., at near-stoichiometric regimes, resulted in the formation of single-phase FCC structure. Hardness and wear rates both reached their optimal values at RN = 20–25%. The strengthening mechanism was elucidated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which suggest that higher H of the substoichiometric film is mainly associated with the increased local lattice distortion and the formation of a multi-phase structure.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785424029375Multi-principal element nitridesDensity functional theoryMulti-phase structureLocal lattice distortion |
| spellingShingle | Yiming Ruan Jigang Xie Lin He Fugui Zhang Jie Shi Hengning Hu Yun Chen Rui Shu Liuquan Yang Hao Du Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions Journal of Materials Research and Technology Multi-principal element nitrides Density functional theory Multi-phase structure Local lattice distortion |
| title | Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| title_full | Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| title_fullStr | Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| title_short | Enhancing mechanical properties of (HfMoNbZrTa)1-xNx films through multi-phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| title_sort | enhancing mechanical properties of hfmonbzrta 1 xnx films through multi phase structures in substoichiometric compositions |
| topic | Multi-principal element nitrides Density functional theory Multi-phase structure Local lattice distortion |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785424029375 |
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