Tribological and Corrosive Properties of Tin/AlN Multilayer Film

Abstract

TiN/AlN nanoscale multilayer films were deposited by pulsed laser ablation on silicon, with different argon and nitrogen gas flow rates. The total thickness of the TiN/AlN multilayer film was approximately 1μm. The friction and corrosion properties were studied by tribological and corrosive tests. In tribological tests, ball-on-disc was used to determine coefficients of friction and wear rates. The coefficient of friction against a Si3N4 ball varied considerably between films, as does the wear rate. The lowest coefficient of friction μ=0.97 was shown at sample 1, whereas the other three multilayer films were ranged from 1.0 to 1.5. In corrosion test, the anodic polarization characteristics were measured in a 3.5% NaCl solution at room temperature to examine the corrosion resistance. The potentiodynamic polarization measurements showed that for all the multilayer films the corrosion potential shift to higher values, and the corrosion current density decreased with increasing of nitrogen gas flow rate, which indicate a higher nitrogen partial pressures lead to a better corrosion resistance.