Surface protection of SS-316L with boron nitride based thin films using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique

Abstract

In the present work, the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering process was used to develop boron nitride thin films on 316L stainless steel. The target material used in the experiment was a hexagonal boron nitride (c-BN) target. The deposition was performed in three different Ar and N2 system mixing regimes. The composition and morphology of the coating developed at various N2 and Ar plasma ratios were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The electrochemical corrosion test was used to investigate the boron nitride coating's corrosion behaviour. The goal was to study the changes in the ratio of N2 and Ar during the process and to understand the structure of cubic boron nitride (c-BN) coatings. Increased microstruc­ture uniformity and further c-BN step creation with different quantities (Q) QAr/QN2 = 2 imply a fundamental strategy for creating improved cubic boron nitride films.