Deciphering the mechanical strengthening mechanism: soft metal doping in ceramic matrices - a case study of TiN-Ag films

Luan, Jing (avtor), Kong, Fanlin (avtor), Xu, Junhua (avtor), Fernandes, Filipe Daniel (avtor), Evaristo, Manuel (avtor), Dong, Songtao (avtor), Cavaleiro, Albano (avtor), Ju, Hongbo (avtor)

Soft metals have been widely added into ceramic-based films for fully meeting the demanding requirements of green tribological applications. However, the resulting considerable increase of the mechanical strength by adding a soft metal below 5 at.%, which reversed the rule-of-mixture, was still not fully revealed. In this paper, a case study of TiN-Ag films was carried out to investigate the strengthening mechanism induced by adding soft metal in TiN-Ag composite/multilayered films deposited by magnetron sputtering. The results showed that dual-phases of fcc-TiN and fcc-Ag co-existed in the composite films with the Ag particles embedded in the matrix. In some areas of the Ag particles, with a size below 4 nm, epitaxial growth with the TiN template was detected, which obliged the lattice to be distorted and shrunken. Consequently, both hardness and elastic modulus were enhanced from 21 and 236 GPa, for the reference TiN film, to 26 and 323 GPa for the TiN-Ag composite film with 2.4 at.% Ag. The possibility of having the epitaxial growth of Ag within TiN were also confirmed by designing a TiN/Ag multilayered film with an Ag layer thickness of ∼3 nm.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: magnetron sputtering, soft metal, ceramic-based films, epitaxy structure, strengthening mechanism
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: FS - Fakulteta za strojništvo
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Leto izida: 2024
• Št. strani: 6 str.
• Številčenje: Vol. 248, art. 113489
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180478
• UDK: 621.89:669.018.26
• ISSN pri članku: 0264-1275
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2024.113489
• COBISS.SI-ID: 271107843
• Datum objave v RUL: 10.03.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Materials & design
• Skrajšan naslov: Mater. des.
• Založnik: Scientific and Technical Press
• ISSN: 0264-1275
• COBISS.SI-ID: 10626075

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva-Nekomercialno 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: Licenca Creative Commons, ki prepoveduje komercialno uporabo, vendar uporabniki ne rabijo upravljati materialnih avtorskih pravic na izpeljanih delih z enako licenco.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: magnetronsko razprševanje, mehke kovine, epitaksijska struktura, mehanizem utrjevanja