High temperature oxidation of ion-plated CrN films

Abstract

The high-temperature oxidation of CrN films which were deposited onto stainless steel substrates using an arc ion plating apparatus was studied at temperatures ranging from 1023 to 1173 K for 0.6 to 480 ks in air. The oxidation rate obtained from mass gain as a function of time was found to fit well to a parabolic time dependence. Formed oxide layers were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and SAM. An activation energy of the oxidation of CrN was slightly lower than that of the self-diffusion coefficient of Cr ion in Cr2O3. It is concluded that the oxidation of CrN is controlled by the outward diffusion of Cr ions through the Cr2O3 layer formed on each CrN grain.